I'm a Public School Teacher

I've been thinking about retirement lately. I'll need something to do, as shuffleboard leaves me cold.

While watching X Factor this week, I thought it might be great to become a rapper. It seems easy enough, in the sense that you don't really have to sing. The hours are short, and I think it'd be great to wear a clock around my neck, as I can hardly see the numerals on my watch anymore without my reading glasses. So I wrote the rap below. I was thinking about making my own video, but I was all out of Cristal. If anyone wants to record this, I'd be happy to post the video.

I’m a public school teacher.

I plan my lessons with rigor and teach them with vigor

No chalk and talk, I’ve got teach and walk

I’m child centered, self directed,

Technology enabled, Internet connected.

I group heterogeneously, homogeneously, and even alphabetically.

I hold small group discussions with classes of thirty four

I teach mini-lessons, big ideas, small moments and more.

I’m over crowded, overworked, over taxed and overlooked
I'm under supplied with pencils and books.

I spend out of pocket for my own supplies

What I can’t afford, I improvise.

My pockets are empty but my briefcase is full.

With grade books and tests papers and all kinds of bull.

I get observed, evaluated, walked through, walked on,

Talked to, talked at, pissed off, dumped on,

I get PD in the PM of every half day.

I’m POed that I have to teach extended day.

I teach ELA, ESL, Gen Ed, and CTT,

From ADD to ADHD to just plain crazy,

All jammed in one room, packed like sardines.

Jammin' to my rituals and my routines.

I’m a public school teacher.

I’m a man with a plan, I’ve got a lesson in hand

Competing for attention with adolescent glands.

I check for homework, attendance, understanding, participation,

Abuse, neglect, frustration and sedation.

I aim high with my Aim, to the point of obsession,

I always frame it in the form of a question.

My questions are motivational, my Do Nows inspirational,

When the AP drops by, I start getting perspirational.

We analyze, memorize, hypothesize, synthesize.

I differentiate, evaluate, discriminate, and formulate.

I integrate technology and practice amateur psychology.
I teach biography and chronology from my anthology.

I’ve gone from blackboard, to chalkboard, to white board, to Smart board.

I’ve even got an up to date, standards based bulletin board,

Backing paper, border paper, borderline papers, exemplary papers.

Tasks and rubrics, chart paper, word wall,

A fire chart that says exit left down the hall.

Fire drills, wind drills,and rapid dismissals,

Warning bells, passing bells, late bells and whistles.

I’m a public school teacher

I’m a traffic cop. Stay to the right! Stop when I say stop!

Don’t go down the up, or up the down,

Don’t stand around like a circus clown.

Don’t be a bully. And don’t you harass!

Where’s your pass? Now get to class!

I’ll check your latenesses, your absences, your cuts, and more.

You check your attitude at my door.

Give me your homework, your assignment, your report,

Whatever I ask for, keep the snotty retort.

Give me your attention, undivided, with a side of respect.

Give me your answers, provided your sure they’re correct.

But don’t give me an attitude, an excuse, or guff

Or anything less than you’re capable of.

Come in, settle down, don’t talk, now turn and talk,

Partner talk, group talk, but for God’s sake, don’t talk!

Why? Because this will be graded! Because I said no!

Because I’ll call your mom! Because I said so!

Raise your hand, don’t call out, and not too loud!

Figure out the answer and make me proud!

I’m a public school teacher.

I go to Parent/Teacher conferences and monthly staff meetings,

I go to dances and pageants with themes of Seasons Greetings

I go to sports and assemblies, games, and plays,

Most of all I go to extremes most days.

I’ve been cursed out, lied to, jacked up, run around,

Told off, told on, told tales, and calmed down.
But you can't discourage me, because one thing I've found is...

I’m a public school teacher.

Don’t ask me why I do what I do.
Just get yourself a pencil--number two.
Here's a pop quiz--let me ask you:
Which of the following statements is true?
A. Teachers are completely out of their minds
B. It has to be a labor of love
C. We just can't stand to see a child left behind
D. ALL of the above

Word. Look it up in the dictionary.

Your Crazy Aunt and Charters

If you watched Education Nation at all, you heard the term "public school" bandied around quite a bit. Charter schools went to great lengths to say that they were, by golly, public schools after all. That they wanted the mantle of the word "public" but not the responsibility was implicit in their clear separation of charters and "traditional" public schools. They used the word "traditional" in the same way your family uses the word "special" to describe your crazy aunt who lives in the attic and thinks she's a goat.

Let's get it right. Charter schools are NOT public in any real sense. About the only way in which they could be considered public is the fact that they drain public money with their construction and lavish salaries for the likes of Eva Moskowitz.

Libraries are true public institutions. They are paid for by public monies, like charters, but that's where the similarities end. To get into a public library, you don't have to be selected in a lottery. Your mother doesn't have to apply. You don't even have to know how to read. Compare that to the Harlem Children's Zone, where you not only have to apply, but if you can't read well enough, they can kick out an entire grade.

Public buildings, like the stadiums Mayor4Life spent billions on (except not his billions) are more like charters. Take Citifield. It was paid for largely with public money. And while you have to win a lottery to get into a charter, you may need to win the lottery to afford a ticket to see the Mets. Yet, despite charging exorbitant rates, it is true that when you buy a ticket to see a ballgame, you are entitled to get in. It matters not whether you speak English, or whether you are considered disabled. That ticket guarantees you a spot.

Now for charters. They are paid for by public money, true, but most students can't get in. You can't buy a ticket to gain entrance. If you can't speak English or you have some learning disability, they rarely will take you. Imagine the lawsuit if the New York Public Library or Citifield refused entrance to non-English speakers or the learning disabled. People would be outraged if such a thing happened in a taxpayer supported institution. Nevertheless, charters manage to get away with such blatant discrimination.

I teach in a real public school. Students from everywhere are welcome regardless of what language they speak or what obstacles they face. No ticket needed. Not even a lottery ticket.

Perhaps it's time we started looking at charters as the "special" aunt of public education. But let's not tell them that they're not goats. We could use the milk.

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