Frustration level RED

I realize that I have had a busy day, that my students were challenging today, that my computer is still not doing what it should be doing. That said I am frustrated at a level that I haven't reached maybe ever. So here is a little video to help me relax and then I will delve further in...

Okay, I feel a little better now. However, I'm still crazy stressed and here is why... I really am excited to get my teaching certificate or license whichever your preference happens to be. That being said I absolutely hate busy work, I don't use it as a teacher and I can't stand it any better when I'm given it. This last assignment that we did with the Mind map has left me struggling to understand what the point was. Spending hours compiling information and then plugging it into a program to create a presentation that is nothing but the regurgitation of information is an absolute waste of time.

 Special education and special needs is really important it's something that all teachers really should take into consideration and be on the lookout for in their students. Understanding the different categories of special needs is important and I don't mind having done the research because it is something that I will need to know in the future. I just wish there would have been some way or assignment that allowed me to use the information in an applied way. Even the program that we used to something that I will never need to use again.

These are the type of assignments that have me questioning everything. Rather than regurgitating the information I could have spent that time practicing math for the Praxis exam or practicing writing or going over reading comprehension.

I could have spent that time working on stage management things for an upcoming festival. I could have spent that time working on a community blog or I could have spent that time just relaxing after an incredibly frustrating day in the classroom.

Here's hoping that when my computer is fixed these problems will go away.

Mind Mapping

IDEA by Chris Bleeker

So here is a mind-map done for the class. I'm not at all sure of the why of this assignment. Frankly, after this I'm angry and frustrated and really honestly feel like I just wasted HOURS of time that I could have used in one of the other things I have going on. I like learning, and finding ways of incorporating that new knowledge. This felt like information regurgitation, and a total time waster. I can't even see a need to use this mind mapping program in any of my classes or any activities that I do. I'd much rather do a presentation in another program, or find a way to use the information gained by all the research and reading this required.

Questioning...Why?

Week 2 is officially complete and week 3 has started. With the beginning of week 3 I find myself asking the question, why? I'm having a very hard time understanding what purpose or intent behind certain assignments is.

There was a time when the intent wouldn't have mattered to me. Lately however I find myself feeling like a two-year-old constantly questioning why. Not so much as to why am I doing this assignment but what the purpose of this assignment is.

I understand continuing education is incredibly important especially in a constantly changing field like education. Yet, I find assignments with little or no applicable reasoning frustrating. They simply are not the best way that I can spend my time. Especially with my current class schedule being what it is, where I have 27 unique classes to teach every week. My limited freetime has become much more valuable to me.

Let me be clear, I do not for a second believe my time is any more valuable than my classmates time. I just find that I don't have as much free as I used to.

Perhaps it is because of this I find myself misunderstanding the intent behind the assignments. Doing research for the sake of research makes absolutely no sense to me. I would much rather take the research and create a lesson that I could then turn around and use in one of my 27 unique classes.

I love history and I love science. I love teaching both of these subjects. I love researching both of these topics. Researching education for the sake of education seems to hold almost no interest for me.

Sadly, if I can't find a way to implement it into my daily life or classroom I see it almost as a waste of time. It reminds me of why I didn't get my educational degree when I was in university. It makes me realize that getting a master's in education is a terrible idea for me.

A Lesson in Common Core and Anger

After doing research all week I found myself at a point of anger and frustration that I may have never seen before. I have never come so close to quitting something so quickly as I did this week. 

Researching both American teaching unions (NEA, AFT) as well as the common core standards (CCSS) and several other International (UNESCO, UNICEF, NUT) and American National teaching websites (AAE) I've come across a system that I believe is broken well past the point of being fixed.

I'm a fan of unions I believe overall that they truly to help people and that with them more can get done. I need that clear because what I found when researching the two biggest American teaching unions as well as the largest in the UK was nothing more than rhetoric. 

The importance of equality runs through the NUT’s work. It is a key priority of the NUT to ensure that its members have a voice in the Union, in the classroom and in broader society, and do not face barriers to promotion, representation or participation. We believe that all children and young people should have equal access to a good school and an education system which treats staff and pupils fairly.

The language was flowery and beautiful. The overall substance was definitely lacking. Talking about fairness and equity, which are both very important, is all well and good. Without a plan in place or even a starting point those terms and that idea holds no water.

The main problem I found going website to website was that while all of them are full of  lovely rhetoric there was not an ounce of "here's what we need to do". There's absolutely no action plan. Perhaps the most disturbing part at all was there was no goal. 

The purpose of Education also known as the the why was nowhere to be found on the first five websites I visited. On the last website I visited which was the Common Core website I finally found the goal. Unfortunately I found that goal to be completely backwards from what I believe education is meant for. The goal of the common core standards is in this order college, career, and life. 

If that truly is the goal of Education in the United States of America then the system is absolutely doomed to fail and not just the system of education but the system of government itself.
For the first time in a very long time I actually had to be talked about from a virtual cliff. I was past the point of frustrated and angry and truly couldn't see why I should be a teacher at all if this was the goal of Education in America. If the purpose of education is to send our students to college then we've already failed them.

Website after website left me feeling bitter and angry. Perhaps I can be of Paris and believed that education for the sake of Education is truly the purpose of teaching. Perhaps I can say that because I have an education or that I've lived overseas for the better part of my life. I can say with certainty that if we are only educating our students for the sake of going to University. Then we may as well not be teaching them at all.

I live in a community of teachers, and the majority of my friends are all teachers. I have been discussing this research with them for days, and found myself getting angrier, and more jaded the more conversations we were having. These teachers are from across the globe, Ireland, UK, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the USA. It was finally another teacher (from Ireland) who reminded me that I don't teach the government that I teach individual students. It is that conversation alone that allowed me to continue on and write this blog. 

The research has taught me that it's time we take a much harder look at the whys of Education. We need to to think about the reasons that we are educating our young. It's through the understanding of why that will be able to truly fix the system and make it so that it can be equitable and fair to all.

It's time to take a much closer look at secondary education and the idea that vocational schools are less deserving than or colleges. It's time to realize that using our hands is just as important as using our brains. That a mechanic has no more or less significance than someone who's working in an office.

I am happy to add that while talking to a few education majors in university, a friends students, I was pointed to a recent article published in Korea, talking about the importance of vocational institutes, and that there will be a great deal more funding sent to them in the coming school year to help deal with the overwhelming unemployment numbers that Korea is experiencing.