The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 plays a big part in my life and in the lives of teachers around the country. So what is it? There is a very good page that covers is quite well on Wikipedia here.
Here is a brief description of the law from that article.
NCLB is the latest federal legislation (another was Goals 2000) which enacts the theories of standards-based education reform, formerly known as outcome-based education, which is based on the belief that setting high expectations and establishing measurable goals can improve individual outcomes in education.
In other words, No Child Left Behind provides for testing students, in the hopes that this will make them achieve more and hopefully learn more. This is the same philosophy that imagines that if you simply step on the scales every day, you will lose weight.
The other big part of NCLB, is the increasing levels of expected performance. In order to meet NCLB a school must show that 50% of its students are proficient in Math and Language Arts. Then the next year, students must be 60% proficient. And the levels increase each year until at some point schools are to have all students testing proficiency. This moving target is called AYP, or Adequate Yearly Progress. If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say AYP, I could retire and hire a private tutor for each of my 165 students.
Boy. I am feeling the burnout right now.
Burnout
A teacher’s loss of idealism and enthusiasm for work (Matheny, Gfroerer, and Harris 2000).
“An extreme type of role-specific alienation with a focus on feelings of meaninglessness, especially as this applies to one’s ability to successfully reach students” (Wood, McCarthy 2000).
“Syndrome resulting from teachers’ inability to protect themselves against threats to their self esteem and well being” (Haberman)
Causes for Teacher Burnout
Burnout is the result of a long period of stress. Stress comes from the perception of a teacher that the resources available to deal with the stress are not adequate. In other words, the stressors (demands from the job) outweigh the resources available to deal with the demands. Example: “Teachers must face a classroom full of students every day, negotiate potentially stressful interactions with parents, administrators, counselors, and other teachers, contend with relatively low pay and shrinking school budgets, and ensure students meet increasingly strict standards of accountability.” (Wood, McCarthy 2000).
If I had my druthers last Friday, I would have quit. Since I don’t have that option, I spent the weekend mulling over how I could turn it around, and I’m working on that today. By the time you read this (since I’m writing a couple of weeks in advance) I should have things going the way I want them, or I’ll have exploded an aneurysm.
If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn’t want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher’s job. ~Donald D. Quinn
As you can read in my bio, I have been a teacher for the past fourteen years. I’ve taught English and History and my current position is as a seventh grade U.S. History teacher. I just finished teaching two semesters of high school level U.S. History Summer School. I am also an aspiring novelist. So while you may expect postings about education and school and all kinds of other things that might impact the life of a forty eight year old male American, the main focus of this blog is my writing. I would of course, like to promote my writing. But just as importantly, I intend to focus on my struggle to get published. I am set for the long haul. I am going to write, I am going to submit my writing to publishers and agents, and I’m going to let you know what happens.
City of Amathar 