Red River United: My Broken Heart by Red River United

Shannon - in Caddo

redriverunited — 2013-02-07 23:51:05 UTC

Dear Legislator, I am more than a test score. I am an educator. I teach children how to think, not what to think.

Charles, Bossier teacher

redriverunited — 2013-02-08 00:23:35 UTC

Dear Legislator, I am a veteran teacher with advanced degrees. Why aren't my skills and education valuable anymore?

London/Bossier Parish Educator

2013-02-08 14:23:20 UTC

Dear Legislator, Please fix extended sick leave.

Just Sad: DeSoto

redriverunited — 2013-02-08 14:31:56 UTC

Why cut funding for counselors? Our children need us more than ever. This is pure politics and not education reform!

Caddo Parish Teacher

2013-02-08 14:57:44 UTC

Dear Louisiana Leaders,

Please fix it!!!! For the first time in my

teaching career I CAN NOT WAIT UNTIL RETIREMENT!!!!

This is sad.....very, very sad!!!!

Caddo Teacher

debowlin — 2013-02-08 15:14:13 UTC

Fix the problem! Many of my peers

are being considered ineffective

but have always been exemplary teachers.

The game rules continue to change

after the game starts. How unfair!

I am ready to retire and planned on

teaching until I was 70.

Learning is more than a test score - I am more than my evaluation

redriverunited — 2013-02-08 16:00:13 UTC

Caddo Parish Teacher

2013-02-08 17:14:01 UTC

I teach students with special needs.

I am at a point where I could retire, but choose not to.

Tenure is a sacred thing. It doesn't make me want to work less. I teach, because I want to, and my kids need me. Don't take tenure away. I earned it, and I am still earning it.

A teacher's husband

lftlesl — 2013-02-08 22:11:34 UTC

Stop John White's misleading and inaccurate attacks on veteran teachers!

Caddo teacher, thorn in John White's side

2013-02-09 04:09:41 UTC

This year has been the worst of my career. It seems like I am constantly aiming for a moving target. It is absurd to release items such as the testing assessment guides and practice tests just last week, the beginning of February over halfway through the year. We just learned a week ago that the transitional curriculum we have been using all year will not be aligned to this year's test. How can we be judged on students' test scores when we had the wrong information from the get go? Something must be done. I cannot believe what is happening in this state.

Caddo Teacher

2013-02-14 14:44:25 UTC

I have a Master's Degree and 15 years experience in Caddo elementary classrooms. Until this year, I loved my job. I continue to love teaching children, but I am not respected as a professional

ELL Teachers: Louisiana

2013-02-14 14:56:36 UTC

Why are we being evaluated by the same rubric as the regular classroom teacher? For the most part we are not able to do all the things in each domain due to a variety of factors. Some principals understand this and some do not. We are serving more than one school. Case in point - I can not attend grade level meetings. I teach K-8 and I am teaching when the teachers are having their meetings during their planning periods. I was penalized for not attending these meetings!

There should always be a need for not just the information in books, but the people there to help the student get the information they need from them. Librarians will NEVER be obsolete.

2013-02-14 15:04:45 UTC

Bossier veteran--After 20 years in a job I felt was my calling and purpose in life, I've begun to desperately look forward to retirement. Sad. My joy and zeal have been stolen.

2013-02-14 15:16:01 UTC

Shaaron in Bossier

shaaron_parrish — 2013-02-14 15:29:56 UTC

Most of my students scored advanced. Therefore I will be considered ineffective since my students can't improve his or her test score. I have taught 42 years, have numerous advanced degrees and am an NBCT. I teach students to think.

I am more than an evaluation. I create live-long learners.

Your plan has many flaws and you are hurting exemplary teachers.

I am also ready to retire and I had planned on

teaching until I was 70.

2013-02-14 15:33:06 UTC

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for absolutely nothing. After a decade of reform measures that were merely absurd, you have moved them to the grotesque and surreal. You should ardently hope that the economy does not improve so you will not have to explain to your constituents why the National Guard is having to teach the common core.

Jennifer - Caddo Parish Teacher

jldepriest — 2013-02-14 16:38:47 UTC

"Too many of today's accountability tests have been constructed in such a way that they measure the affluence of a school's student body, rather than the skill with which those students have been taught" (Popham, 2008, p. 16). My effectiveness as a teacher cannot be accurately measured by a test score and two thirty minute observations.

Popham, W. J. (2008). formative assessment: Seven stepping stones to success. Principal Leadership 9(1), p. 16 - 20.

2013-02-14 16:40:53 UTC

Is the union information accurate? John White makes how much???? He has taught for how long???? What a slap in the face to teachers with 20+ years of service to be lectured to by by a macabre Howdy Dooty with Cocoa Puffs still on his breath!