Bad teachers or the system
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkUjRGnFUe8

What do you guys think?

PB:mad: I have slow ass dial up, so I will have to watch it at school tomorrow. I saw like 2 minutes of it, before my computer started acting crazy. So, I will have to check it out later!

However I can assume where this documentary is headed. If I had to place more blame on a particular party given the choices you gave I would have to say the system. I say that becasue you can have a dynamic teacher, but if he/she does not have a support system (admins, parents, students) who care, then there is not much that teacher can do. Yes that teacher can still be effective in his/her environment, but envolved parents who support that teachers' classroom management, along with administrators who support the classroom management and carry out effective discipline strategies will prove to be great. I am not seasoned in education, but I know what I see and what I work with.

I miss the days when corporal punishment was mandatory in school

My parents didn't need corporal punishment in schools.

ETA
They [My parents] would beat my ass if I showed out period!

The teachers that I wanted to spank me never would.

that NEVER stopped my mama from bringing out the wooden spoon

Hell forget the woode spoon.....my dad use to make us go pick a tree switch fromt he tree outback ........oh yeah that stung!



It is a little of both. As a parent i can see both sides. back when we were all in school ( 1970's/80s.... ok some of us more than others.....age) yes we had corp punishment to toe the line, but we also had great teachers, awesome adminstrations and PTAs/PTOs that were strong in numbers that supported the schools and the teachers. It also left the teachers able to accomplish one thing......the ability to teach!.

Teachers today are thrown so much crap their way to accomplishment in short amt of time because of all the policy and procedures, mandates and of course we cannot leave out no child let behind ......A teacher with a classroom the size of 25 plus it is hard to accomplish the daily task of teaching effectively. it is hard to blame a teacher when she or he do not recieve the support that truly isn't there.

However, on the flip side we do need to hold them accountable. Classroom management is truly an enviorment thing. I aide in my son Matt's class 1 to 2 times a week and his class is a a big class....24 kids. She knows how to get their attention and hold it and she knows time managment well. It is those teachers who should be commended.

I worry about those teachers who dont have parent support or who do and still dont know how to effectively teach. I am blessed to have a great teacher this yr for my son. a lot of the upper grade teachers are brand new and my concern is how effective are they.

the following is probably going to get me in trouble on here... but here's my OPINION.

the educational system in america needs to be reformed. an education should be available to everyone, but not everyone is meant to go beyond high school. there are too many people that i know who should NEVER have gotten into college. so here's one of my ideas..

have kids decide if they want to go to a trade school or a regular high school. many of the people i know that didn't go to college hated high school and barely made it through. they'd be more successful and useful to society if they'd learned a trade. there are many illegal immigrants doing work in the US because people refuse to take the lower paying jobs and are content living on welfare or off of mommy and daddy. there are jobs available and so many americans refuse to work low paying jobs because they think that its beneath them. what did your parents and grandparents do?? if it were the 1950s and you were able to get a job at the mill for peanuts, you'd be happy.

i'm sure there's more i can say on this, but not without really ranting or anything, so i'll leave it at that.

Spankings are overrated and are not the magic bullet like so many people claim. I got MANY as a kid, and I still misbehaved.

I somewhat agree with you on the fact about trade schools. Where I seem to have an issue with that is, we start HS at the age of 14 or 15. I don't think 14 year olds should make a decision saying, "I know I'm not going to college, so I want to focus on a trade not academics." Then 2 or 3 years down the line they want to attend college, they will not have a strong academic basis. I do think that traditional HS (academics based) should still be first, however the electives should be revamped to focus on a trade for those who choose to do so. My HS (years before I attended) had a computer programming elective which students were allowed to progress and get certifications (like A++) granted they passed the test, but they still had academics.

I don't think spankings are a magic bullet, but parents have to find consequences that work for their child. I didn't get many spnakings, b/c I knew what was expected of me and the consequence I would be choosing should I misbehave.

We have a large number of teachers here on Greekchat, so hopefully we can draw some out here . . . unfortunately, I think my points won't really resonate well with them. That's fine - tell me where I'm wrong and we'll go from there.

First, I feel like most complaints I hear about NCLB are both baseless and misdirected. Forcing teacher (and student) accountability is not a problem in and of itself - and while there are certainly some well-documented issues with standardized testing, no one will disagree that there should be some measurement of success on the part of both the student and the teacher.

Second, teachers probably do not get enough support - but that support must come from the school and administration. Parents are not always a reliable source of educational support, and this is not a new phenomenon.

Third, teachers may be slightly underpaid, but it is not an endemic problem - however, we can't have it both ways. By this I mean that if we pay teachers like insurance adjusters, we should expect the quality of college grad that becomes a teacher to approximately equal that of an insurance adjuster. Most MENSA candidates can find much more lucrative employment than teaching - it's a catch-22. At no point in past history were teachers paid the same as doctors, lawyers, or CEOs - to pretend otherwise is insane. Also, teaching is not a 12-month-a-year job for the overwhelming majority of teachers, no matter how much planning time you require personally - this has to be considered. I'm sorry, teachers, but it does.

I would argue that the largest problem with our current school system setup is that it is top-heavy - there are too many superfluous administrators, and they are largely inept at dealing with actual problems. It is a sea of red tape and middle management, with very little of this time or money filtering to the teachers (and thus students).

School funding is not as much of a problem as school spending.

This is similar to problems with failing companies in the private sector - there are entire industries dedicated to consulting and saving these types of companies. There are methods and lessons out there.

NCLB is not the problem.

KSig RC, let me ask what you think about ESL/ELL (English Language Learners) taking standardized test?

The students go to their ESL/ELL classes, but when they take standardized test they are not allowed any help. That is a part of the inclusion of ALL atudents that NCLB brought. Many of the students who would be able to recieve more help in self-contained classrooms are not getting more focused help in the general ed classrooms. These students take the standardized test and often fail them miserably. It is not that the ESL/ELL students are stupid, but they do not understand what is on the test. We can't blame the ESL/ELL teachers b/c the students are only with the teacher for a portion of the day. When they go home they are likely speaking which ever is thier native language, not to mention they are speaking these languages all summer. Many of the ESL/ELL students know functional English which is not good enough for testing. The horrible test scored are factored in with the rest of the school and then some schools can't meet AYP goals.

I agree that this portion may need rethinking - however, I think there are multiple issues here. First, we may need to rethink our definitions of "functional" English, and whether ESL classes are structured properly to encourage their desired outcome (which should be 'mastery of English for education and living' - note 'education' there).

Second, according to the stated goals of NCLB, these statistics are included both as part of the overall school, and then also broken out by race and ESL status for reporting purposes. If focus and funding do not recognize this, it's obviously a problem with how NCLB is being implemented (and how the district is responding).

This creates a chicken-and-egg scenario, I'll agree - it's hard to say whether testing creates a problem or identifies a problem, but I can see how this specific scenario is troubling. However, it's not hopeless.

Isn't it the system's responsibility to ensure it hires non-bad teachers? (I'd say good teachers, but there's a gap between good and bad teachers and I want to include the teachers in said gap.)

If so, then it's the system's fault regardless.

NCLB may not be the problem. But, it is not the solution that its backers made it out to be. Yes, my students who just moved here a year ago are going to take the tests. Do my students have the 'social' language skills? For the most part, yes. Do they have the 'academic' language? No, they are still working on their academic language. Will I be held accountable by my principal and the district? Yes. It does not matter that they will be broken down statistically. If they fail, that will be averaged in, no matter what.

PS - lol - I replied to all of your points. For some reason they did not stay in between the quotes. I will re-state my positions later.

I don't dispute this point - I addressed it in a previous point.

This fits both the "well-documented issues with standardized tests" (as in, problems with non-native/minority populations and test aptitude) and "specific cases" (as per the statistical inclusion).

However, I will reiterate - I see two main issues here: 1) why are there no separate standards for ESL/ELL testing (surely those in special ed are not counted?) and 2) perhaps reevaluating the goal of ESL/ELL classes (that is, what defines functional mastery of English) would be useful, although that utility should be viewed in light of the student (and not the test).

Mastery of English would be wonderful, but like I said for many students speaking English ends at school. So the entire weekend is spent speaking another language and the entire summer. Some of the parents can not speak any English nor do they attend some of the English workshops offered by the district. So if the students and parents do not follow through then mastery of any language will fail.

Correct me if I am worng, but special ed scores are included in many standardized testing (for AYP)? I think they are....I will have to get back to you on that. MzDiscreet where are you ma'am?

It's not the teachers, it's the parents. We don't have as much "family time" as we used to. Kids often eat dinner at different times, and spend weekends playing sports or taking lessons. As they get older, they "go and hang out." Parents are also so protective of their kids' feelings that they don't care that their children are failing. They don't want their children to know that they're dumb. And since teachers don't want to be fired, they listen to what the 'rents want.

I probably could have dictated your post back to you before I even opened it, but hey . . .

Short version: prove it.

Long version: This is a gross oversimplification of everything science can currently tell us about childhood development. The reality is this "go and hang out" time has always existed, just in different ways - maybe it was spent playing ball in the past, but it was always there.

We now know that the role of peer groups is probably the most important part of childhood development and determination of personality. Blaming this all on the parents, while convenient, is pretty much fallacious. A teacher's unwillingness to stand up to a parent over a student's failures is only partially the parent's fault. A student's lack of consistent dinner/family time seems somewhat irrelevant if this time is not spent specifically promoting school, or (worse) is in a dysfunctional setting. Generalities like this are not a substitute for logic and planning, and they go a long way toward helping the problem, and not the solution.

Bad parents are a detriment to their children's success. Bad teachers use bad parents as the ultimate cop-out for difficult students.

I've been saying for years that there should be an 'academic' high school for kids who are preparing for college, and more of a vocational-type high school for kids who will most likely end up working straight out of school. I agree that allowing (or even asking) a 14 or 15-year-old to map out his/her future is a little unrealistic; that's why I like the way the French do it. They take tests going into high school. If you pass the test, you go to the academic high school. If you don't, well, then you go learn a trade. I know, I know, some people don't test well, yada yada yada, but the way I understand it (I had several French friends growing up), the test has both a written and oral part, so if you suck at written tests you still have the chance to redeem yourself. I think it's pretty fair--it weeds out the ones who either aren't serious about academics or just don't have the aptitude for college prep so that nobody's (students or teachers) time is wasted. Sounds harsh, but maybe the time I spent in high school classrooms jaded me a little. I don't expect everyone to agree.

All but the absolutely most disabled do count in the special education numbers. I think the maximum percentage that can be exempted is 2%, so even the vast majority of special education students count in your NCLB test score data. (Although it might seem weird to those of use who are kind of old, at a lot of schools maybe 10% of so of kids might be receiving special eduction services of one kind or another.)

I think that ESOL, ESL student do need to count in the data because otherwise ESL might become an academic dumping ground with no expectation of ESL students really learning, which would be worse in the long run for the kids than failing the tests. I agree that it would make more sense to measure the results of students who haven't yet learned English differently than kids who grew up speaking it. It is a shame that the present testing system expects the same results from kids who don't know English as from those who do. But let's keep in mind that in many states, and the states all came up with their own plans for testing and in many cases their own tests, the level of performance for passing is pretty darn low.

I think that parents do matter a lot, but mainly in terms of what attitudes they show their kids about school and school success and the influence always seem to be greater when what they show is negative. One of the biggest problems when people talk about lack of support is not total apathy; it's that parents actually work at subverting the standards for their kids at the last minute, even at schools where it might be impossible to get a parent on the phone for 95% of the year. Come the last few weeks and their kids being in danger of not passing or not graduating, suddenly, not only are parents involved, they are actively fighting the system. And you see this same dynamic with behavior and discipline problems. People aren't interested in helping back teachers up by dealing with the kids at home in any kind of proactive way, but if the kid is going to gets in really serious trouble with the administration, and suddenly, mom is in everybody's face.

Now, I agree with the above poster that if the school administrators could be counted on to back teachers up academically or in terms of discipline, then the parents wouldn't matter much at school at all. But most administrators seem to get ground down by the parents pretty quick and learn that addressing problems as the teacher's fault is easier, since after all, the teacher works for the administrator.

So if you are a teacher, unless you are a really good school, and/or you have an exceptional strength of character and morality, you too get ground down pretty fast. You, like the kids, learn that the kids pretty much run the place and in some ways certainly the easiest way to think of having a long career is to have ridiculously low expectations and a willingness not to make waves.

I think that's why so many people leave, especially at the bad schools, and then you really do get into a position where things get worse because the school would rather keep someone sincerely bad, as opposed to having no one to teach at all.

Why do you often have such an antagonistic tone? It's kind of weird to me.

Would there every come a point where you would allow schools to remove the most difficult students from the school?

Would there be a point at which you would allow teachers to simply refuse to meet with or address parent concerns?

Would you set up a system that prevented administrators from telling teachers how to resolve the issues that parents had complained about?

I really think you may be underestimating the influence that the parents have on people who can tell teachers how to do their jobs.

I agree that if the administration were willing to ignore parent complaints and back teachers in their grading and discipline then parents might be able to be removed from the equation, but since at the top level of school chain of command you have the elected officials of the school board, in many if not all places, it's not likely to happen.

Parents may often be used as an excuse; I don't dispute that; but they also in a notable number of cases actually prevent the measures that might work with the difficult student being used. Once a kid who doesn't already value school learns that the school has no authority, good luck.

I want to apologize for the length of the last couple of my posts. They may even exceed BA-on-the-topic-of-cloned food length, but I think about this topic a lot even though I don't have any good answers.

Ha - I honestly don't mean to, it's a result of my actual job (which requires very specific, to-the-point, and well-supported writing).

I really mean no antagonism.

This happens in many school districts already, with special programs for behavioral problems and those with educational needs beyond "Special Ed" - these programs, as far as I know, have seen quite a lot of success.

I would support these, assuming they were successful - I'm open to another way, if there is one, as well.

Yes - ultimately, I agree with your previous point about administration support as necessary (although I'm not sure I'll extend it to the same mechanism or length you do, even though it's entirely plausible) to the teacher's success. In that regard, when parents are over the top in demands or pressure on the teacher, it is the responsibility of the administration to address these demands/this pressure.

I don't think this happens, at all - I think many failings of the school system are a direct result of administration failing the teachers. (bolded for emphasis)

I'm not really sure what to say here, I don't really understand what this system would really do, or really what you're getting at - sorry.

Actually I think we're on a similar track here - see the bolded part above.

I'm not overly willing to accept the status quo here while listening to bizarre or misguided generalities about parents, decline of morals, or the evils of testing, though. This, I think, is the ultimate downfall of NCLB: it gives too much opportunity to scapegoat the program, rather than examining the glaring inefficiencies and outdated methods of many schools.

Let me try to explain this point:


"Would you set up a system that prevented administrators from telling teachers how to resolve the issues that parents had complained about?"

I agree that it was pretty unclear. Every once and a while, my state will try to pass a law allowing teachers to do something as basic as refuse to change a grade at the direction of the administration, but oftentimes, by the time the law is actually passed, it keeps the original language, but allows administrators just to go in and changed the grade themselves. This seems terrible to me. On some level teachers need protection from being undermined by administrators. (It happens with discipline too. Although there may be guidelines about how teachers handle issues, administrators often kick the issues back to the teachers to address. Or if the parent complains, the administrators will elect to tell the teacher just to let it go completely.)

Viewed from another angle though, isn't it the natural order of organizations that those higher up can review and change the decisions of people lower than they are? So restrictions about what administrators can do are contrary to most understandings of management.

But unlike the private sector where those higher up still remain accountable for the success of projects or work, success in education isn't as easy to define. (A teacher might say academic quality is success; a parent might say
a passage grade, earned or not, is success.)

And in a way particular, it seems to me to education, the damage that bad administrative decisions create is rarely visited back on the administrator in any way. Teachers and students have to live with the results. Administrators, although they may have more people to account to informally, are probably held even less accountable for student results than teachers are.

On some level, and I think it often comes with unions, teachers need a way to say no to bad decisions and directions if they ultimately will be "accountable" for the students learning. And yet, unions do as much to hinder educational improvement as any force in the equation.

I'm not interested in the status quo, but I want to suggest that newer rather than the most traditional methods are among the worst problems with education. If anything a central problem with education and a big contributor to its ineffectiveness and inefficiency is the damned trendiness of the efforts at reform.

I am glad you brought this up 1908. I am a 3rd year teacher and from what I have seen, many new teachers are given lower level students along with ESL students. About 30% of my students are ESL and this is their first year taking any type of standardized test. They do not perform on grade level and I don't expect them to considering they have not yet mastered the language.

Agree completely.

I think bad teachers do scapegoat bad parents, but I still think bad parenting is where it starts. You're right, other sources have as much or more influence, and my response would be, how does that happen? My parents simply wouldn't allow me to get tangled up with bad influences within my peer group. Parents aren't helpless when it comes to what influences their children. They probably do seek out other influences, especially when their parents are completely irresponsible and never around.

Bad teachers or the system?

Both.

In general, students in the College of Education at most/all Universities are among the weakest, entering with low ACTs, SATs, and GPAs. The College of Education often accepts weakies who flunk out of the top-line departments. This has been the case forever.

In many states, a system of lesser colleges (often called State Teachers Colleges in the past) with big and weak Education Depts. developed. In the south, the separate (but never equal) black colleges produced teachers by the thousands.

Today - we've got tons of poor teachers, further handicapped by a strong union. (I'd say this is proved by the private schools {all non-union} which hire and retain good teachers, even with lower salaries)

The system also sux. The unions are in control, and always seeking higher pay, smaller class sizes, and less accountability.

As education spending rocketed up, some controls were needed, and NCLB was passed (Bush and Kennedy were the leaders on NCLB). If all this money was being spent, some evaluations and testing were needed to learn if the money was being well spent.

The system needs some changes, and vouchers are worth trying. Give the parents some control (the money) and most of them will choose to use their voucher to pick a quality school.

There's a newspaper article this week, telling about an autoshop teacher who has some very devoted students, who want to work extra and learn more - and many of these kids struggle in other classes.

Another article tells about the NYC HS for Accounting and Food Studies, and the young chefs there who love it and have a good career ahead of them. NYC also has a HS for future "sports professionals", not learning to play but learning to lead athletic ventures.

If parents had control with vouchers, they would use them to put their kids into schools that the kids like and enjoy.

Most drop out, I think, say school is boring.

Vouchers are worth trying. The existing system isn't working.

Am I the first teacher to reply?

NCLB- I personally find NCLB a crock of crap. It's all great in theory to "leave no child behind" the problem is there is absolutely no funding behind it. How can I possibly not leave a child behind when it is just me in a class of 21 first graders. I have 2-3 speds (1 is about to be tested that is why I say three). I have about 7 ELL's. I have 8 kids who are low-low. I have 9 or so below or at grade level and only 8 above grade level. I'm by myself. I can honestly only do so much. The only time my kids get any one on one time with me is when I have to progress moniter them on DIBELS (ORF-oral reading fluency). It's so sad. Then the sped kids. According to NCLB ALL kids must be at grade level. That is a retarded thing to want considering there is a population of students in our country who have IEP's (individualized education plans) and they will NEVER be on grade level. To hold that expectation of them and the teacher is insane! One of my sped kids will NEVER be on grade level. He doesn't retain the knowledge. He can barely sing his alphabet. He is at a pre-primer level (that is below kindergarten and I teach 1st).

Funding- Well I just happen to live in the state that is number 50 when it comes to teacher pay and funding. Enough said. I can't do much when the state doesn't spend what it should on kids. As a teacher I get $50 at the beginning of the school year to buy supplies. 50 dollars, that doesn't buy jack. I've probably spent more than 2 grand of my own money in the last 3 years of teaching. That is the only way to get the supplies for my kids that they need. 99% of the stuff in my room, I've bought from my own money. Which sucks because I get paid pretty damn crappy in the first place.

Pay- The notion that my eduction isn't as much as others is dumb. To keep our certificate a teacher has to do professional development hours. These are graduate level courses in the education field. These courses have to be approved by the district a teacher works at for professional development so that you can move up on the pay scale. While I did start out making 40K this year my raise is .05% which is down right pathetic. The only way I make more money is to get more and more education. But the increase in pay will be NOTHING compared to the money I will be spending on my education. Yes, I'm going to persue my education because I want to, but teachers shouldn't have to keep paying for graduate education so that they can get more money. Why is it that I'm supposedly teaching the "future of America". You know those future basketball, football, baseball players, yet I can barely make enough to live on my own? What is that about?

Support: I do have some great parents this year but administrative support could be better. My school is a school that hasn't made AYP for the last two years. We are in warning that the state might take us over. My principal and assistant principal try their hardest but they walked into a school that has problems. There are teachers who are more interested in causing dissention and non-cohesiveness. The middle schoolers have absolutely no discipline and will not hesistate to cuss out any teacher that comes within their path and they are told to do something they don't want to do. The kids suffer absolutely no consequences for their wretched behavior. The district is totally pacifist with how they treat the kids. The parents pretty much "own" the district. If a parent doesn't like what an administrator has told them they can walk right into district office and file a COMPLAINT!! I can't even do that as a teacher! These parents have more power than me! I don't want to sound like a bitch, but who has the education? Who is here to teach your child? If it wasn't for me, there wouldn't be a teacher in this room. The same goes for other teachers.
Now its not to say that this is a statewide problem it probably isn't. But I'm sure other teachers and other districts in my state are suffering from the same issues.

Don't get me wrong there are definately bad teachers. Hell I work with a bad teacher in my grade level and there are at least 4 more in my school alone. The problem is these people have been teaching forever and the district, up until this year, would have to go through tons of hoops to get rid of a teacher. The superintendent just made it easier for principals, this year, to fire teachers that aren't doing their jobs or bringing morale down at the schools. We shouldn't keep teachers for the sake of keeping teachers.

Nope. I'm a teacher.

“My son is eighteen and he can’t read.”

Who the hell would blame a teacher for this? My mother taught me how to read at age three. If your child can’t read blame yourself not a public educator.

May I say.....Thank YOU!!!!!!!!!!

When I was in kindergarten my mom would com on Fridays to help out. She ended up teaching my classmates how to tie their shoes. Some things you learn at home. School should not be the place where learning starts and stops.

To think that there is any one simple solution is ludicrous. Sure, there are some bad teachers, sure, there are some bad administrators. There are also bad parents and kids who live in conditions that hinder their ability to learn. We can't address only one of these issues. They ALL have to be looked at.

I have two kids who are two years apart and who went to the same elementary school. They only had one teacher the same. My daughter's experience was wonderful. She's very bright, her teachers recognized that and they gave her many opportunities to excel beyond her grade level. She got 8th grade vocabulary words in lieu of 4th grade spelling, for example. She was encouraged to spend a lot of time doing Accelerated Reader and Accelerated Math on the computer, at her own level. My son, who actually IQ tests higher than her, is bored out of his mind. His teachers all say he's the brightest boy in the class, but doesn't always do all his work. He's the kind of kid who, if bored, will find things to do like .. create his own "science" experiments. It just isn't appropriate in school to try to see how thick of a paper clip his scissors can cut or what things he can mix together to use like glue, etc. However, only one of his teachers ever gave him anything to do above his grade level. He was in 3rd grade that year, in a 3/4 split class and that teacher gave him the 4th grade work after he finished his own 3rd grade work. She's the only teacher that never had trouble with him being bored, not turning in assignments, finding "non-productive" activities to busy himself with, etc.

I do know that it's tough for a teacher to try to meet the needs of each individual student at their grade levels, but there are programs in place in our schools to do it.. the AR and AM mentioned above. My son isn't given time to work on these things and isn't allowed to do them when he finishes his regular work while my daughter was encouraged to do it. So yes, two kids, same school, very different experiences.

Our state test is called the MEAP (Michigan Education Assessment Program). We can look up any school's results, compare among school districts, etc. Within a district, demographic data is given. The data is given in two ways, one including special ed and then separated from special ed. The ONLY factor that made a difference in our school.. a statistically significant difference, was not race or gender, but was poverty level. The kids who fell below poverty level could not pass this test. Is this because their parents are probably uneducated and therefore, are living below poverty level? Or, perhaps those kids aren't getting good nutrition? Or good sleep? Are they more sickly because they possibly don't have heat or electricity?

There are so many factors that it could be. The teachers unions in Michigan are probably stronger than in most states, because ALL unions are so strong here. They also get paid a lot more than in most states. Most of the teachers I've encountered were excellent. My son has a mediocre one this year. He got really messed up in 1st grade and in 4th grade when, due to maternity leaves, he had super incompetent long term subs who had no control over the classroom. The second grade teachers the next year were appalled and very upset that all the kids in that one class were so far behind. Over 70% of them hadn't learned to read. My son makes his numbers really strangely because they never worked on that. Yeah, he can make them, but to watch him do it, it looks very odd. Anyway... neither of the long term subs that were awful got hired by the school district full time, so that was good. However, it's tough to get back a 5 month loss of learning. Thankfully, my son was reading at 2nd grade level at the beginning of 1st grade, so he wasn't behind.

My mom and I both did a lot of things with my kids to enhance early learning. But then, I was trained as an Occupational Therapist and child development was my focus. So yeah, I was doing reflex testing on my babies before I ever fed them for the first time, just to make sure :) .

There's an old saying "It takes a village to raise a child" and I fully ascribe to that. A parent can't do it alone, neither can a teacher. And, I typed a lot of words to get to that point.

AMEN!!!!!

I wish more parents would get that I'm not a frickin' miracle worker. I see these kids only 4 days for 6.5 hours and 1 day for 4 hours. They have them all night, all weekend and all summer. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH THEM!?!?

I can seriously only do so much!

No, I am a teacher as well :D

Is this "those who can, do. Those who can't, teach"??

hey, you're from rome right, have you ever eaten at Harvest Moon? My sister doesn't shut up about it.

No, that's not me who is in Rome. I'm in the Atlanta suburbs a lot closer in than that. I think you may be thinking of Carnation, but I'm not 100% sure if she is in Rome.