Why I Decided to Become a Private School Teacher

[proud2BlibKansan]

I am not a private school teacher yet; but I am planning on becoming one. I have taught at a wonderful public school with a college prep program that allows all students access to a world class education for my entire teaching career.

I teach in an urban area with a mix of students. In the Advanced Placement classes I teach, I have students from some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the country, to some of the poorest. Families that have been here for generations, to families who are recent immigrants and the parents don't speak English. Regardless of their background, my principal likes to always say "we have the best students in the world," and we do.

Many of my students' parents are wealthy and could easily afford to send their children to exclusive private schools, yet they choose to send their children to their local public school because they believe in public education. They have not bought into the hype that all of our public schools are in crisis. That all public school teachers are lazy and incompetent and that they cower in their classrooms scowling at their students, all the while waiting to collect their larded pensions.

During the nine years I have been teaching at my public school, the school has received grades of D, C, B and finally this year we achieved an A. Next year, due to the state of Florida changing the grading standards (which they have done every year since they decided to grade schools) we are projected to become a C school. The State Board of Education has reached the absurd conclusion of expecting special education students and English language learners to reach the same proficiency levels as regular students; and that out of date science test scores should be used as data (doesn't sound very scientific to me). Whichever grade the state decides to assign my school, I will know the truth, we are still an A school.

MORE . . . http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teacher_in_a_strange_land/2012/03/why_i_decided_to_become_a_private_school_teacher.html

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I found I had more freedom with my curriculum when I taught in an urban day care

center in Harlem in 1984 (Kindergarten). My kids learned to speak International Sign Language, Patwah, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish. We did yoga. We learned about African history and culture (art and dancing). We learned math by using coins and paper money. I had a 5 year old who could read on a fourth grade level. We even had an early computer. It was probably the most progressive program I've ever experienced. And most of my kids were able to secure scholarships into Catholic and private schools during my tenure.

Public schools have their own agenda and would have limited my program with their tests and uniform standards.

[teach1st]

2. Florida teacher here

It's a horrible system, and I will ignore it. I won't ignore it politically, it does need to be protested, but I've decided to ignore any evaluations based on that system. I won't limit my teaching in order to force the stats to grow. The parents and students at my school can tell more about my teaching than the anti-teaching stuff the state has devised. That said, if I were younger, with many years left in the system, I might feel differently about ignoring the evaluations.