Teacher playing a Taylor Swift video

[Anonymous]

I learned a long time ago that the USA scrapes the bottom of the barrel in terms of training and educating teachers. If universities created rigorous curriculae and insisted on excellent grades and test scores to get an education degree, and schools increased hiring requirements and pay, then OP's situation would not exist.

Same for police officers, BTW.

Our most critical careers are staffed by idiots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great point. How dare OP question how teachers are educating her children when obviously public education in the US is going so well? It’s not like “Regular teachers” have any role to play in the decline in American public education.

This what is truly nonsensical. Since waiting for Superman it just keeps getting worse, yet we keep voting for people who will stop school choice because the unions benefit from status quo and they hide behind a broken system saying it will just get worse. Well it isn’t working now.

Great job, Ostriches.

It’s PUBLIC school. You want a school to cater to your individual values, go to one.

My values of wanting a quality education for children that is competitive in the world? FFS, teachers are against now? WTF are we even doing?

But go on defending playing MTV in the classroom as a tool to educate. Is this real life?

Why do you assume everyone who disagrees with you is a teacher. My kid has to analyze lyrics in English class. It teaches him to apply skills outside of traditional “reading.” They looked at Pixar clips yesterday and discussed theme and motif and how music, color choice, etc. work with language to create these things. He was learning and engaged. If you don’t like that teachers are just sticking to books, which not all kids find engaging, especially now, then go to a school that meets your particular idea of what education should be.

Because it isn’t fing working, Lucy Calkins. We are in decline. You know that, right? Kids would be engaged playing video games too. If that is your metric, I have some bad news for your children. We keep dumbing it down, and making it easy. Why read some of the world’s great authors when we can watch MTV, and Disney movies?

And the end result is.....?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It drops lower because we defund schools and there’s no societal safety net to help kids and families be successful. Not because some teachers use Taylor Swift to teach literary devices.

The US is near the top of the list when it comes to spending per student. So, no. The Gates Foundation and other philanthropies have spent billions of dollars on US education. That’s not why the US is failing. Stop looking outward, and maybe do some self-reflection.

Not that I think T Swift is bad. Whatever - I don’t care. I do think that it’s an example of education in a non-rigorous setting. But, if our teachers didn’t have to go through a rigorous program, we can’t expect much.

I’m not understanding your argument. You do not know anything about this teacher or her student outcomes. You don’t even know what the actual assignment was, unless you are the OP. Education must be relevant to be effective. For many 5th graders, modern pop music is relevant. It makes learning more exciting and more likely to be absorbed.

Your idea is that education should be more rigorous? What does that look like to you? Are you an actual teacher?

I don’t know about her specific classroom outcomes, nor do I care about any single class. I actually love Taylor Swift FWIW (1989 was almost PERFECT!). I’m an educated person and can look at education outcomes by country. The US is a disaster.

Okay, so is your post about US education outcomes or about the TF video? The video is a valid technique. Sounds like you should have kept out the TF video part in your OP if you wanted to discuss the US education system

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It drops lower because we defund schools and there’s no societal safety net to help kids and families be successful. Not because some teachers use Taylor Swift to teach literary devices.

The US is near the top of the list when it comes to spending per student. So, no. The Gates Foundation and other philanthropies have spent billions of dollars on US education. That’s not why the US is failing. Stop looking outward, and maybe do some self-reflection.

Not that I think T Swift is bad. Whatever - I don’t care. I do think that it’s an example of education in a non-rigorous setting. But, if our teachers didn’t have to go through a rigorous program, we can’t expect much.

Okay, so how do we realistically fix the issue?

Schools are given plenty of money, but is isn’t used wisely. They don’t need more funding. They need an overhaul of their budgets.

Stop spending so much money on trying to get an equal percentage of FRL kids in each school. When poverty is spread evenly among schools, overall test scores may be higher for the formerly high-poverty schools, but if you break down test scores by race and income level, the low SES kids are still performing badly (doesn’t matter which school they’re in). INSTEAD, get rid of crappy curricula (I’m looking at you, expensive Lucy Calkins) and use content-rich curricula instead. Choose one that follows a logical sequence, instead of having teachers operate independently - no one wants their kid to study the solar system in third AND fifth grades. Both Louisiana and NY have chosen to do so, and their test scores are improving - especially in the high-poverty groups!

If you don’t want segregated schools, talk to the county about HOUSING POLICY instead. I’m not saying it is good to have all FRL kids in a single school. To fix this, we need to stop building ALL LOW INCOME HOUSING in a single part of the county! Spread it out.

Shift funding around to pay teachers more. We don’t need a ton of overpaid administrators. We need teaching to become a desirable field. BUT to justify this, we NEED IT TO BECOME DIFFICULT TO GET A TEACHING DEGREE. Currently, it is one of the majors that is frequently chosen because is is EASY. We cannot have college students major in COLORING and then expect them to do a job deserving of being paid well. It’s time to guard the profession and make sure that those who graduate from schools of education are good, QUALITY teachers.

This surely wouldn’t fix everything, but it would be a start.

Okay, you bring up interesting points, but I still don’t believe that we can assume a teacher is unfit because they are using relevant musical references in the form of music videos? Surely you realize that this is a teaching technique used all over?

Look, I’m not any of the posters b*tching about Taylor Swift. I wouldn’t care if my child had this as part of their lesson or not. I *do* care that my child’s education as a whole has been a joke, and that I have to supplement heavily at home. And I do care that not everyone is able to do this. Actually care about equity? It’s time for an overhaul of how things are done.

[Anonymous]

Lana Del Rey would have been a much better choice, imo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It drops lower because we defund schools and there’s no societal safety net to help kids and families be successful. Not because some teachers use Taylor Swift to teach literary devices.

The US is near the top of the list when it comes to spending per student. So, no. The Gates Foundation and other philanthropies have spent billions of dollars on US education. That’s not why the US is failing. Stop looking outward, and maybe do some self-reflection.

Not that I think T Swift is bad. Whatever - I don’t care. I do think that it’s an example of education in a non-rigorous setting. But, if our teachers didn’t have to go through a rigorous program, we can’t expect much.

Okay, so how do we realistically fix the issue?

Schools are given plenty of money, but is isn’t used wisely. They don’t need more funding. They need an overhaul of their budgets.

Stop spending so much money on trying to get an equal percentage of FRL kids in each school. When poverty is spread evenly among schools, overall test scores may be higher for the formerly high-poverty schools, but if you break down test scores by race and income level, the low SES kids are still performing badly (doesn’t matter which school they’re in). INSTEAD, get rid of crappy curricula (I’m looking at you, expensive Lucy Calkins) and use content-rich curricula instead. Choose one that follows a logical sequence, instead of having teachers operate independently - no one wants their kid to study the solar system in third AND fifth grades. Both Louisiana and NY have chosen to do so, and their test scores are improving - especially in the high-poverty groups!

If you don’t want segregated schools, talk to the county about HOUSING POLICY instead. I’m not saying it is good to have all FRL kids in a single school. To fix this, we need to stop building ALL LOW INCOME HOUSING in a single part of the county! Spread it out.

Shift funding around to pay teachers more. We don’t need a ton of overpaid administrators. We need teaching to become a desirable field. BUT to justify this, we NEED IT TO BECOME DIFFICULT TO GET A TEACHING DEGREE. Currently, it is one of the majors that is frequently chosen because is is EASY. We cannot have college students major in COLORING and then expect them to do a job deserving of being paid well. It’s time to guard the profession and make sure that those who graduate from schools of education are good, QUALITY teachers.

This surely wouldn’t fix everything, but it would be a start.

Okay, you bring up interesting points, but I still don’t believe that we can assume a teacher is unfit because they are using relevant musical references in the form of music videos? Surely you realize that this is a teaching technique used all over?

Look, I’m not any of the posters b*tching about Taylor Swift. I wouldn’t care if my child had this as part of their lesson or not. I *do* care that my child’s education as a whole has been a joke, and that I have to supplement heavily at home. And I do care that not everyone is able to do this. Actually care about equity? It’s time for an overhaul of how things are done.

I think this may call for separate thread, imo. Because most people were just responding about the use of visual tools in literature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It drops lower because we defund schools and there’s no societal safety net to help kids and families be successful. Not because some teachers use Taylor Swift to teach literary devices.

The US is near the top of the list when it comes to spending per student. So, no. The Gates Foundation and other philanthropies have spent billions of dollars on US education. That’s not why the US is failing. Stop looking outward, and maybe do some self-reflection.

Not that I think T Swift is bad. Whatever - I don’t care. I do think that it’s an example of education in a non-rigorous setting. But, if our teachers didn’t have to go through a rigorous program, we can’t expect much.

Okay, so how do we realistically fix the issue?

Schools are given plenty of money, but is isn’t used wisely. They don’t need more funding. They need an overhaul of their budgets.

Stop spending so much money on trying to get an equal percentage of FRL kids in each school. When poverty is spread evenly among schools, overall test scores may be higher for the formerly high-poverty schools, but if you break down test scores by race and income level, the low SES kids are still performing badly (doesn’t matter which school they’re in). INSTEAD, get rid of crappy curricula (I’m looking at you, expensive Lucy Calkins) and use content-rich curricula instead. Choose one that follows a logical sequence, instead of having teachers operate independently - no one wants their kid to study the solar system in third AND fifth grades. Both Louisiana and NY have chosen to do so, and their test scores are improving - especially in the high-poverty groups!

If you don’t want segregated schools, talk to the county about HOUSING POLICY instead. I’m not saying it is good to have all FRL kids in a single school. To fix this, we need to stop building ALL LOW INCOME HOUSING in a single part of the county! Spread it out.

Shift funding around to pay teachers more. We don’t need a ton of overpaid administrators. We need teaching to become a desirable field. BUT to justify this, we NEED IT TO BECOME DIFFICULT TO GET A TEACHING DEGREE. Currently, it is one of the majors that is frequently chosen because is is EASY. We cannot have college students major in COLORING and then expect them to do a job deserving of being paid well. It’s time to guard the profession and make sure that those who graduate from schools of education are good, QUALITY teachers.

This surely wouldn’t fix everything, but it would be a start.

Okay, you bring up interesting points, but I still don’t believe that we can assume a teacher is unfit because they are using relevant musical references in the form of music videos? Surely you realize that this is a teaching technique used all over?

Look, I’m not any of the posters b*tching about Taylor Swift. I wouldn’t care if my child had this as part of their lesson or not. I *do* care that my child’s education as a whole has been a joke, and that I have to supplement heavily at home. And I do care that not everyone is able to do this. Actually care about equity? It’s time for an overhaul of how things are done.

I think this may call for separate thread, imo. Because most people were just responding about the use of visual tools in literature.

Yet like most meaningful conversations, additional points are made, different questions are asked, and hopefully the conversation turns into something productive.

Or, we can just continue to complain about the use of pop music in a school lesson. Driving in circles is fun!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It drops lower because we defund schools and there’s no societal safety net to help kids and families be successful. Not because some teachers use Taylor Swift to teach literary devices.

The US is near the top of the list when it comes to spending per student. So, no. The Gates Foundation and other philanthropies have spent billions of dollars on US education. That’s not why the US is failing. Stop looking outward, and maybe do some self-reflection.

Not that I think T Swift is bad. Whatever - I don’t care. I do think that it’s an example of education in a non-rigorous setting. But, if our teachers didn’t have to go through a rigorous program, we can’t expect much.

Okay, so how do we realistically fix the issue?

Schools are given plenty of money, but is isn’t used wisely. They don’t need more funding. They need an overhaul of their budgets.

Stop spending so much money on trying to get an equal percentage of FRL kids in each school. When poverty is spread evenly among schools, overall test scores may be higher for the formerly high-poverty schools, but if you break down test scores by race and income level, the low SES kids are still performing badly (doesn’t matter which school they’re in). INSTEAD, get rid of crappy curricula (I’m looking at you, expensive Lucy Calkins) and use content-rich curricula instead. Choose one that follows a logical sequence, instead of having teachers operate independently - no one wants their kid to study the solar system in third AND fifth grades. Both Louisiana and NY have chosen to do so, and their test scores are improving - especially in the high-poverty groups!

If you don’t want segregated schools, talk to the county about HOUSING POLICY instead. I’m not saying it is good to have all FRL kids in a single school. To fix this, we need to stop building ALL LOW INCOME HOUSING in a single part of the county! Spread it out.

Shift funding around to pay teachers more. We don’t need a ton of overpaid administrators. We need teaching to become a desirable field. BUT to justify this, we NEED IT TO BECOME DIFFICULT TO GET A TEACHING DEGREE. Currently, it is one of the majors that is frequently chosen because is is EASY. We cannot have college students major in COLORING and then expect them to do a job deserving of being paid well. It’s time to guard the profession and make sure that those who graduate from schools of education are good, QUALITY teachers.

This surely wouldn’t fix everything, but it would be a start.

Okay, you bring up interesting points, but I still don’t believe that we can assume a teacher is unfit because they are using relevant musical references in the form of music videos? Surely you realize that this is a teaching technique used all over?

Look, I’m not any of the posters b*tching about Taylor Swift. I wouldn’t care if my child had this as part of their lesson or not. I *do* care that my child’s education as a whole has been a joke, and that I have to supplement heavily at home. And I do care that not everyone is able to do this. Actually care about equity? It’s time for an overhaul of how things are done.

I think this may call for separate thread, imo. Because most people were just responding about the use of visual tools in literature.

Yet like most meaningful conversations, additional points are made, different questions are asked, and hopefully the conversation turns into something productive.

Or, we can just continue to complain about the use of pop music in a school lesson. Driving in circles is fun!

I think this is true IRL, but online not so much. I thought you brought up some interesting points, but at a certain point, the main point of the thread is derailed. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Did I miss it - did OP ever say if this what school district?

Also, isn't it really tricky to stream video (the mysterious TS video) off of 1 platform onto a virtual platform especially something like BBU which is so clunky by default?

Just finding this whole scenario bogus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It drops lower because we defund schools and there’s no societal safety net to help kids and families be successful. Not because some teachers use Taylor Swift to teach literary devices.

The US is near the top of the list when it comes to spending per student. So, no. The Gates Foundation and other philanthropies have spent billions of dollars on US education. That’s not why the US is failing. Stop looking outward, and maybe do some self-reflection.

Not that I think T Swift is bad. Whatever - I don’t care. I do think that it’s an example of education in a non-rigorous setting. But, if our teachers didn’t have to go through a rigorous program, we can’t expect much.

Okay, so how do we realistically fix the issue?

Schools are given plenty of money, but is isn’t used wisely. They don’t need more funding. They need an overhaul of their budgets.

Stop spending so much money on trying to get an equal percentage of FRL kids in each school. When poverty is spread evenly among schools, overall test scores may be higher for the formerly high-poverty schools, but if you break down test scores by race and income level, the low SES kids are still performing badly (doesn’t matter which school they’re in). INSTEAD, get rid of crappy curricula (I’m looking at you, expensive Lucy Calkins) and use content-rich curricula instead. Choose one that follows a logical sequence, instead of having teachers operate independently - no one wants their kid to study the solar system in third AND fifth grades. Both Louisiana and NY have chosen to do so, and their test scores are improving - especially in the high-poverty groups!

If you don’t want segregated schools, talk to the county about HOUSING POLICY instead. I’m not saying it is good to have all FRL kids in a single school. To fix this, we need to stop building ALL LOW INCOME HOUSING in a single part of the county! Spread it out.

Shift funding around to pay teachers more. We don’t need a ton of overpaid administrators. We need teaching to become a desirable field. BUT to justify this, we NEED IT TO BECOME DIFFICULT TO GET A TEACHING DEGREE. Currently, it is one of the majors that is frequently chosen because is is EASY. We cannot have college students major in COLORING and then expect them to do a job deserving of being paid well. It’s time to guard the profession and make sure that those who graduate from schools of education are good, QUALITY teachers.

This surely wouldn’t fix everything, but it would be a start.

Okay, you bring up interesting points, but I still don’t believe that we can assume a teacher is unfit because they are using relevant musical references in the form of music videos? Surely you realize that this is a teaching technique used all over?

Look, I’m not any of the posters b*tching about Taylor Swift. I wouldn’t care if my child had this as part of their lesson or not. I *do* care that my child’s education as a whole has been a joke, and that I have to supplement heavily at home. And I do care that not everyone is able to do this. Actually care about equity? It’s time for an overhaul of how things are done.

I think this may call for separate thread, imo. Because most people were just responding about the use of visual tools in literature.

Yet like most meaningful conversations, additional points are made, different questions are asked, and hopefully the conversation turns into something productive.

Or, we can just continue to complain about the use of pop music in a school lesson. Driving in circles is fun!

I think this is true IRL, but online not so much. I thought you brought up some interesting points, but at a certain point, the main point of the thread is derailed. Sorry.

It’s ok, and I do understand that online (especially an anonymous forum like this) isn’t as good as in-person discussion. I do think (hope) that others may be drawn to this particular thread by the title, read my thoughts, and maybe consider them. We have to start somewhere.

[Anonymous]

For a teacher to play a music video where school age kids get intimate...There’re other intentions here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It drops lower because we defund schools and there’s no societal safety net to help kids and families be successful. Not because some teachers use Taylor Swift to teach literary devices.

The US is near the top of the list when it comes to spending per student. So, no. The Gates Foundation and other philanthropies have spent billions of dollars on US education. That’s not why the US is failing. Stop looking outward, and maybe do some self-reflection.

Not that I think T Swift is bad. Whatever - I don’t care. I do think that it’s an example of education in a non-rigorous setting. But, if our teachers didn’t have to go through a rigorous program, we can’t expect much.

Okay, so how do we realistically fix the issue?

Schools are given plenty of money, but is isn’t used wisely. They don’t need more funding. They need an overhaul of their budgets.

Stop spending so much money on trying to get an equal percentage of FRL kids in each school. When poverty is spread evenly among schools, overall test scores may be higher for the formerly high-poverty schools, but if you break down test scores by race and income level, the low SES kids are still performing badly (doesn’t matter which school they’re in). INSTEAD, get rid of crappy curricula (I’m looking at you, expensive Lucy Calkins) and use content-rich curricula instead. Choose one that follows a logical sequence, instead of having teachers operate independently - no one wants their kid to study the solar system in third AND fifth grades. Both Louisiana and NY have chosen to do so, and their test scores are improving - especially in the high-poverty groups!

If you don’t want segregated schools, talk to the county about HOUSING POLICY instead. I’m not saying it is good to have all FRL kids in a single school. To fix this, we need to stop building ALL LOW INCOME HOUSING in a single part of the county! Spread it out.

Shift funding around to pay teachers more. We don’t need a ton of overpaid administrators. We need teaching to become a desirable field. BUT to justify this, we NEED IT TO BECOME DIFFICULT TO GET A TEACHING DEGREE. Currently, it is one of the majors that is frequently chosen because is is EASY. We cannot have college students major in COLORING and then expect them to do a job deserving of being paid well. It’s time to guard the profession and make sure that those who graduate from schools of education are good, QUALITY teachers.

This surely wouldn’t fix everything, but it would be a start.

Okay, you bring up interesting points, but I still don’t believe that we can assume a teacher is unfit because they are using relevant musical references in the form of music videos? Surely you realize that this is a teaching technique used all over?

Look, I’m not any of the posters b*tching about Taylor Swift. I wouldn’t care if my child had this as part of their lesson or not. I *do* care that my child’s education as a whole has been a joke, and that I have to supplement heavily at home. And I do care that not everyone is able to do this. Actually care about equity? It’s time for an overhaul of how things are done.

I think this may call for separate thread, imo. Because most people were just responding about the use of visual tools in literature.

Yet like most meaningful conversations, additional points are made, different questions are asked, and hopefully the conversation turns into something productive.

Or, we can just continue to complain about the use of pop music in a school lesson. Driving in circles is fun!

I think this is true IRL, but online not so much. I thought you brought up some interesting points, but at a certain point, the main point of the thread is derailed. Sorry.

It’s ok, and I do understand that online (especially an anonymous forum like this) isn’t as good as in-person discussion. I do think (hope) that others may be drawn to this particular thread by the title, read my thoughts, and maybe consider them. We have to start somewhere.

NP. I actually think that the spelling and grammar thread and the APS specific thread on Lucy Caulkins were useful along these lines, at least in part. Once there is a reasonable return to school pathway, people really need to rally around fixing the curriculum for language arts, social studies, and science in northern Virginia, at least in districts that aren't doing those subjects well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For a teacher to play a music video where school age kids get intimate...There’re other intentions here.

Yup, or the teacher is just that stupid. Either way, it has no place in the classroom. I just watched the first minute or so of the two first music videos YouTube loaded up for Taylor Swift, and this for sure has no place in elementary school. The documentary on netflix about her has a rating of 13+ on common sense media - that's eight grade.

I am sure all the defensive moms on here will cling to the, "tell us what video it was defense," even though odds are OP probably doesn't remember because she is probably not a Tswizzle fan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a teacher to play a music video where school age kids get intimate...There’re other intentions here.

Yup, or the teacher is just that stupid. Either way, it has no place in the classroom. I just watched the first minute or so of the two first music videos YouTube loaded up for Taylor Swift, and this for sure has no place in elementary school. The documentary on netflix about her has a rating of 13+ on common sense media - that's eight grade.

I am sure all the defensive moms on here will cling to the, "tell us what video it was defense," even though odds are OP probably doesn't remember because she is probably not a Tswizzle fan.

Given the age it was probably Love Story or You Belong With Me. Neither show “intimacy.” Nor do most other Taylor videos. You guys are such Puritans. JFC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I learned a long time ago that the USA scrapes the bottom of the barrel in terms of training and educating teachers. If universities created rigorous curriculae and insisted on excellent grades and test scores to get an education degree, and schools increased hiring requirements and pay, then OP's situation would not exist.

Same for police officers, BTW.

Our most critical careers are staffed by idiots.

Golly. Sounds like you need to be a teacher so you can save us all.