Chapter 4: Freda Lin - A. Davila

Chapter Four centered on Tawainese-American teacher Freda Lin. I thought it interesting that Freda mentions the Asian culture as the "forgotten minority." Perception is they pose little problem because of the general attitude of hard work and communal responsibility. I reflected that in my almost ten years of teaching I have only had a handful of Asian-American students. The chapter also features some interactions with a dictator-like principal. The whole chapter reminded me of my first two years of teaching. I was in a affluent suburb of Washington DC teaching 10th grade English Lit. My principal ran the school like Mussolini (I hope I spelled that right) and the teachers were forced, due to overcrowding, to "float." I had to vacate my room during my "off" periods and take stacks of paper to a closet better known as the English teacher's lounge. The whole school atmosphere was one of distrust and entitlement - from staff and students. It was such a horrible experience.
Some obervations from the chapter:
How do you feel state standards and the high-stakes testing has helped or hindered your teaching?
Freda mentions that she is conflicted between studying for depth versus breadth. She believes that her students take the most away from projects and that with notes they're "just memorizing," but where do projects fit in when you're rushed to cover a certain amount of curriculum by the end of the year and the BIG standardized test? In my own classroom my philosophy was if I teach your students well, they will pass the test and leave with knowledge. That meant I taught beyond the test. My strategy was to teach them the basic skills but to also infuse relevant material that made them think. A unit on decisions and consequences included all sorts of texts. We read newspaper articles about local people who had made poor decisions. We read Supreme Court cases and short stories. We talked about how the connotation of the word consequence was negative but not all consequences were necessarily negative. However, I am fully aware I have a luxury in teaching ELA. My colleague in the Social Studies Dept. was always frantic to "get to the Civil War" by test time. How do all of you balance depth and breadth in your classroom?
In light of our readings for class this week, how does the evaluation process encourage growth in your school or workplace?
Freda mentions the "whole evaluation process...[as] a big charade" (100). I agree. I have yet to have a principal who genuinely knows what is going on in my classroom or one who cares - provided no parent is beating down their door. The overwhelming impression is as long as the kids are alive when they leave my classroom and I didn't sleep with any of them, the magic that goes on behind the closed door can remain that - magic. I often feel a little frustrated that my principal even feels confident enough in my ability to complete my evaluation. At our school she doesn't even review it with us. She leaves it in our mailboxes to sign and return. There's a note about seeing her if there are any questions, but the one time I actually went to ask a question, it was politely implied that she didn't have the time to deal with insignificant questions. How am I suppsed to make a concerted effort to improve if I'm not given specific feedback about where to improve? We tried a system (it only lasted for half a semseter) where teachers observed other teachers and gave feedback, but it was a nightmare. We weren't given specifics of what to look for and so observations were wildly varied depending on the teacher and their own personal style. Great plan, poorly implemented.