Having just completed our conference, I want to make sure I completely understand your position on the concerns we raised.
Regarding the excessive competition in your room, you were, at best, dismissive. You did not deny that you have games with the children. You did not respond to our concerns that you often have boys compete against girls. You in no way indicated that you will change this practice. We made it very clear when expressing our concerns that setting up a classroom environment with such a competitive spirit – and in particular making that competition gender-based – can have long-lasting effects on how children perceive themselves as learners. Based upon your body language, it appears you are dismissing our concerns as overly academic.
When I expressed my concerns about your daily timed math, you had a solution: don’t come in anymore and don’t help me. That way, they won’t do it daily. When I expressed my concern regarding the explicit levels on the tests and how everyone in the class knows where everyone is in terms of performance, you were once again dismissive. I hope I made myself clear that if you actually put the children’s names on your rocket on the bulletin board – announcing to all those who pass by who is or is not performing in your class - that I will respond quickly and with utmost determination. I suggest you look up FERPA policies before you put that first named tack in place. It will save you and the school a significant amount of grief.
You made sure we knew that there were 25 children in each class – that moving Audrey was, unfortunately, not an option. We had not brought up this possibility. By the very fact that you brought it up, you let us know that you have no intentions of changing and that we are stuck with you. We will see what those above you have to say about that.
You tried to redirect our concerns to talk of developmental levels of second graders. I stopped you because I taught second grade for a number of years – and third, forth, seventh, and was an elementary and middle school administrator. You know that. Don’t try to derail serious conversations in a twenty-five minute conference. You then tried to imply that Audrey has merely found some way to get attention – that she knows this bothers us so she is using it. That shows how very little you know about our daughter and how little you’ve actually listened to us during this conference.
Given the short time we had and given your attempts to redirect the conversation from the actual issues, we didn’t not have much time to talk about your grading. Trust me, we will return to this issue with your administration. It is very clear that the items coming home with grades are not the products of instruction. This is not assessment OF instruction. They are not, in any way, informing you to differentiate in your classroom. Thus, they are not assessment FOR instruction. Rather, they are assessment IN PLACE OF instruction. While you may be able to force your way into creating a culture of competition in your classroom without much possibility of consequences from administration, you cannot get away with this. If I accomplish nothing else this year, I will make it my mission to ensure that you actually teach and that the grades on papers are actually and only the results of having taught.
In other words, you have forced me into the role of adversary. I resent this. Education should be a partnership. The focus should be on what is good and right FOR children – not for your ego or for your 37-year routine. I’ve not had to take on this role before. I can tell you that I truly believe I make a much, much better advocate than adversary. Instead of seeing Rick and I as resources, you see us as threats. Oddly enough, the highly competent teachers we’ve worked with up to this point have always seen us and used us as resources. As such, we’ve done everything we can to support what they do in the classroom. We haven’t changed. We still see the world the same way we did when our children were in preschool and in their previous school. So, the one factor that has shifted our roles is you.
So, it is quite possible that the next 155 days of school will be torture for the three of us. As I told you at the end of the conference, we want to be advocates. We want to support what is going on in school. However, we will not stay silent when we see things that are wrong. We will continue to challenge. We now must get others involved. I resent that your principal may also perceive us as adversaries because of the conditions you have put in place in your classroom. As we move ahead and attempt to deal with these issues, I want to make one thing absolutely and perfectly clear. These issues are between us. While they affect our daughter, she is not part of this conflict. Any indication otherwise would escalate this matter far beyond anything any of us would want to encounter.
When I was a middle school teacher I worked in a very urban area. I taught rival gang members in the same class and had to break up many conflicts – physical and otherwise. I learned very quickly that you do not put someone up against a wall, literally or figuratively, or you ensure that that person will come out swinging. You always have to provide a road to redemption. Otherwise, no progress can be made. We will do our best to maintain that road to redemption for you. You can make this year better, and we can return to the role of advocates – but it will take a lot of change on your part. We are willing to accept a wide range of teaching practices that we don’t’ like. That’s our compromise. However, we cannot and will not accept that issues we’ve brought forth in the conference and in this follow-up letter. In other words, these are deal breakers.
So, while you off-handedly mentioned that you would think about our concerns, we expect more than that. We expect to see change - real change - based upon what we have identified as very real issues in your classroom. These are not just parental whims. We have a long line of research backing up our position as well as the everyday practices of highly talented teachers everywhere. If we have to pull out the NCLB mandate that your practices must be research based, then we'll do so. If we have to pull out federal guidelines about the right to privacy for student performance, we'll do that as well. Frankly, I'd much rather spend my time helping a small math or reading group in your class or cutting out manipulatives for more engaged instruction. Your call.
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