The "Team Player"

How many times do we hear that from our administration?

And what it really means is "Don't complain, even if it's unfair."

Here's the deal. There's a big push right now for common assessments in all classes. Of course, there's no extra time, or money to pay us for the extra time, to get together and create these common assessments. Well, why should we? Why reinvent the wheel for goodness sake? Holt, Rinecourt and Winston have already done it for us. And they are aligned with the State Standards! How wonderful is that? You don't have to create anything. You don't even have to think. Just do what it says according to the teacher's edition of the textbook. They've even mapped out the whole year.

Wow. Think of it. All students all across California, on the same page on the same day. Every one getting exactly the same thing. Delivered in the same way. Talk about equal access. It's fabulous.

Uh huh. Really, it is. Don't frown. Com'on, don't be a grouch. You can throw out all your own lessons. Novels? There's no time for them now. Don't worry, the HRW people have chosen a wide cross section of multi-cultural selections.

Time? Oh, I know that the state mandates about an hour and a half a week more of language arts instruction than we have here at Unnamed Junior High School, but with talented teachers like yourself, I know you can do it. What's that? You want to have a Socratic Seminar in your class? You feel it engages even the quiet students? Is it on the CAT-6? Is it on the STAR test? Well then, you'll just have to save it until after the tests in April. You can have more freedom then, after the test. A poetry portfolio? There's no standard about writing poetry. You need to get focused Ms. X. These kids need to know the difference between an elegy and an ode. That's something that can be tested. They don't need to "have fun" at school. They need to do well on the tests. I know, our API is 814, but that's not the point. We have to keep improving every year.



Fuck.