BLOG.BRIAN-CROSBY.COM: Recent Comments

Comment on Obama's speech to schoolchildren

2010-08-27T01:57:47Z

Thank you.

Comment on Obama's speech to schoolchildren

2010-08-26T18:37:52Z

This was an important article. I stumbled across your article and thought it incredibly positive.

Comment on Movie Titles Need to be Rated

2010-04-16T21:24:28Z

Not just horrified for families but to the sensibilities of most people I would like to believe. Brian I think we are getting too old. LOL. It's now whatever they can get by the reviewers. I watched cartoons the other morning and counted 15 killings, 2 tortures 3 bombed homes, 6 maimed humans and an Android that was threatening death to " You and your kind." A far cry from my Batman & Robim/Superman days.

Comment on Teacher pay cuts and layoffs

2010-03-04T06:00:39Z

Thank you, Margaret, for sharing your story. Let's hope you're right that the teachers who are let go happen to be the more incompetent ones.

Comment on Teacher pay cuts and layoffs

2010-03-04T04:27:25Z

Where I live and work we are seeing what feels like a nightmare. Veteran teachers are being let go midyear on any excuse and long-term subs being brought in with no hope of getting an offer for next year. Schools are being closed and the students being doubled up in other facilities. The huge class sizes are resulting in management issues with which even experienced teachers are struggling to cope. To make it even more challenging, the budgets are being frozen and salaries are being hit the hardest.

Unfortunately, the rest of the job market is so poor that we can't even get work outside of teaching so many of us are stuck hoping for work as subs or collecting unemployment.

I'm grateful I have a position, been in the same school for years, and seem to be in good standing. But it's still scary because who knows what can happen? I'm just grateful I teach math and math teachers are in short supply.

I'm also an education junkie. I just absolutely live for the "aha moments" and thrive on my middle schooler's and all of their craziness. If I didn't need the money, I'd work this gig for free.

Who knows? Maybe the competition for jobs will weed out some of the untalented, lazy, and ineffective teachers - leaving room for high-quality educators to thrive and grow? Sort of survival of the fittest?

Let's hope so.

Comment on A Teacher's Last Year

2010-01-17T17:04:41Z

Thank you for your thoughtful comments. Not having that audience and the energy that kids exude is something I'm sure many retired teachers miss dearly.

Comment on A Teacher's Last Year

2010-01-17T16:58:48Z

I am considering retiring at the end of this year or at least reducing my time and teaching half day. I think about retirement frequently. I am also a literature teacher. I haven't had one thought all year about no longer teaching literature. I don't consciously think, this may be the final time I teach a work, a project, or a skill. I do, however, think daily, actually several times each day, about whether or not I will be able to walk away from students. After standing in front of teenagers for 32 years, what will life be like without that audience? What will life be like if I no longer feel that I am contributing to the development of so many students? What will life be like if I am no longer giving back?

I think of this often, and I only hope and pray that when the time comes to retire, I will recognize that time and leave graciously. I am just fortunate to teach in an area where students, parents, and teachers encourage me to continue to teach. I am also thankful to live at a time when I will not be forced to retire before I am ready.

Comment on Too Much Homework

2009-12-17T22:00:09Z

As a middle school math teacher, a single mom, and a former home schooler, I have a lot of conflicting opinions on homework. For one thing, I hate it because it takes up family time. On the other hand, too many kids lack the skills they need to go forward and the only way to insure they get the much-needed practice is by assigning homework. All that said, I don't assign homework over the holidays as it's counterintuitive: most of the kids won't do it anyway, or they'll wait until Sunday, January 3rd at around 8:00 PM (at the earliest) and finish it in a hurry. I also really don't want to start a new decade with 150 papers to grade.

Comment on Too Much Homework

2009-12-14T17:17:40Z

it seems today that students are overworked and dont only have to excel at school but also have a job do sports and be active in clubs or out of school activites. this has led to an increasing amount of stressed students

Comment on Start Charging Parents for Public Schools

2009-12-10T17:22:24Z

Brian,

You make several valid points. The most salient of those points being the psychological reaction to something that is free. Many of the comments follow the basic notion of criticizing rather than finding a common understanding to what point is being made. The point is simple--US schools are lagging behind the rest of the industrialized nations in education--yet no one seems to want radical reform. I would agree that public education should end. Yet the mentality of Americans is that the government should fill in the gaps for those who can't always pay up. Ultimately, we will arrive back to this square unless the appreciation of school is somehow made punitive. By this I mean, penalties should be levied, whether these penalties are financial or other in other forms, for the underperformance of students. As an educator I feel teach my students that it is their job to be a good students. You don't need to have a 4.0 gpa, but students most certainly should be able to pass a grade-level test. My suggestion is akin to what colleges/universities do all over the country. When students do not make the grade or do fail to demonstrate academic progress, these students are given probation and then if the failures continue, they are expelled, dropped or removed from the university. Why should secondary public education be any different. Students earn their keep at the collegiate level, they should also be required to earn their keep at the secondary level.