The International Schools Review Forum

Sounds like the typical american school right now: they can't agree on what texts to use as CC ones don't really exist but they demand teachers follow CC and use CC assessments (beyond the stupid exam) for report cards.
Common core is a joke.

the education business is a joke.
common core isn't that bad - maybe for math - as long as there are relevant materials and books to teach from that make sense.
from what i have seen, this industry is killing it right now.

v.

Many educators confuse a curriculum with curriculum standards. CC is a list of learning and developmental objectives, it is not a plan or curriculum on how to get to those objectives. The CC objectives and outcomes are comparable to those of many other curriculums.

There's certainly a ton of confusion and be glad most ISs don't have it yet. Unless there is proper training, ongoing teacher support and proper texts, it's a disaster. A set of "objectives" swiftly adopted by states without proper input from educators and nearly zero input from child development experts. There are many schools in Ca that pulled texts and supporting resources from teachers who then scrambled to supplement. a close friend is at a mandarin immersion school in a San francisco suburb. The LA texts sat in the cabinets all year and everything was supplemented. Testing programs and computers failed numerous times and testing exceeded the alloted days. Headaches all around.
We spent over a decade teaching children "to the test" and then those students entered universities poorly prepared on a variety of levels. Now CC is the magic program to get kids thinking and communicating the who and why and how. Quality teachers, quality programs were/are already doing this.
The massive pushback in school districts stateside to opt out and withdraw their participation from CC and associated tests is a tiny step toward some change, what that is who knows. It certainly isn't enough to put power back in the hands of educators.
I'm thrilled to be away from it. The decline in teacher moral is off the charts. I can only hope parents wake up and see how important their support of teachers is for the future of education and the best interest of their children.

Guys, this thread was supposed to be all about me!

Just kidding. I will be working with CC for the first time next year and I'm interested to see how it will turn out.

@chilagringa

Take the CC standards and compare them to the majority of National language and maths standards and you will see a great deal of congruency.

Back to the original post...

Six more teaching days. (Smoke coming out of ears.)

Seriously,

Tell me what is so bad. I teach at a horrible school - principal passing and graduating EVERY student, transcripts doctored, no tardy, attendance, or school dress policies, useless assistant principals, high school kids who don't know their multiplication tables and/or cannot even add, etc.- but I manage to still have fun and get at least a little edumication into my students (which is the job, isn't it?).

I taught internationally for a period. So why am I not counting down the days?

I mean this as a serious question. What is so bad about your school that prompted you to make this post?

I am not teaching internationally right now...

I've taught in four different schools, and loved three but hated this one. In my opinion, being positive about things that deserve it doesn't mean anything unless you can hate things too. :)

I'm still givin' it my all every day, and I will until the last day. There are many students I care about, after all.

I can't really give any details without giving myself away. There's a very toxic culture to the school, though. I know a number of teachers here that dread coming to work in the morning. I know another one who has decided that she would rather be unemployed next year than return. This is a truly excellent educator I'm talking about, much better than me, so it's indicative of something. Things are bad sometimes, no?

Oh, and I was also physically injured by a middle schooler yesterday, but don't worry because it's all in good fun.

Gringa,

You are being (purposely?) vague. From what little you have said throughout the post, it does not seem like you have anything concrete to base your stress on. Or maybe you just have a low stress tolerance which, in that case, means that you are making the correct decision to return to the tranquil world of the international classroom.

If a student purposely assaulted you, call the police and file a charge - I have done that and and it worked wonders. The student who threatened me spent the night in jail and was a nervous wreck in the weeks that followed, wondering if he was going to go to prison, BEGGING me to not follow through with the charges. I followed through and the student has a record.

I knew you were not at an international school now and I work where most of the teachers do not enjoy their jobs.

That is yet another one of the reasons I left international education: too many prima dona "rock stars" who wilted like lillies in the rain when they had to actually deal with a student who did not love school.

I guess being a real teacher - that is a teacher who is successful in public and private schools - requires a toughness and self-reliance that most purely international educators just don't possess.

And, no, I am not calling you a prima dona. Only you know what you are.

I am being vague because the specific problems are tied to it being a very specific type of school, which would identify me in an instant as there are very few such schools.

If wanting to enjoy my job more often than being unhappy makes me a Prima Donna, then I'm happily a Prima Donna. My impeccable fashion sense and flamboyant nature will go well with the title.

On the other hand, there have been a number of teachers that have quit this school mid-year because the stress was just too much. If I can make it to the end without quitting or stopping to try hard in class, and only turning to this forum for a bit of support, I would say I have a certain degree of mental toughness. Maybe not YOUR degree of mental toughness, but not everyone is the same.

(As for the injury it's nothing more than a bit of a bruise and annoyance, enough to be happy to leave but not enough to want to get involved in something now before I am about to leave the country. The kid was being a rambunctious jerk, and I'm more mad about the lack of consequences I am able to give him.)

I'd love to give you support, but, again, I don't know why you need it - everything you mentioned are just the typical and common BS situations that occur every minute in American public schools.

I will wish you all the best at your new international school and I am glad that you have realized where you fit best.

Erm, I have taught at two other public schools and despite the "typical BS", I really enjoyed the experience.

I am heading abroad because I love living abroad. I also had an offer of a contract here at a public school that I know I would have loved, having taught there before. But the expat life is where my heart is. Soooo...


Okay I'll stop. Suffice it to say I relate a bit too much to this comic: https://xkcd.com/386/

@Senator how about she doesn't have to justify to you or ANYONE why she is counting down days. You choose to work where you do and apparently love it. Good for you! I guess I am a "real" teacher as I have taught at both private and public, whatever that means.

Counting down mine too as are all of the teachers at our school. We're tired, we're ready for summer. We've worked hard this entire year, we've gone above and beyond and have put our heart and souls into it whether we're at a great school or one of the many that just stink because of a myriad of reasons. We're counting down to vacation like ANY professional in ANY field does.
T minus 8.