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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

I'm a parent and what I'm hearing is that I think what we need to advocate for is to pare down what we expect from teachers so they can do the most important things well and have a sustainable job.  SOme thoughts:

1. I honestly don't think the norm is that parents should be sending teachers emails with questions that require a response.  Your kid can talk to the teacher about most issues.  That should be the norm.   I think administrators need to step in and create a policy that protects teachers on this rather than saying teachers need to respond in x  time.  I want  principals to say their job is to protect teachers' instructional time and that it is beyond the scope of teachers' time to respond to every parent or kid's email.   I just don't see how this is manageable and has the ability to spiral out of control (and also just invade teachers' minds while they are teaching).

2. I think ES could use more specialist teachers in more subjects.  Science and social studies could become 'specials' taught by a teacher that teaches all grades like art and music teachers do  freeing up general ES teachers to have more planning/grading/assessment time (and perhaps resource time to work with kids who need more support/meet IEP needs) and to focus just on language arts and math.

3. I think data on student learning can be really useful for teachers, but I think we underestimate how these can create pressure when they are built into accountability systems.  There are so many things beyond the teachers' control that impact this.

4. I think there needs to be a clearer path up for people within the teaching field that keeps them teaching but rewards experience and gives them some more autonomy to do what they are good at and interested in.  Maybe yearly cash bonuses for certain roles like mentoring new teachers, supporting long-term subs, being a parent liaison, data analysis, work with special ed students etc.  Teachers can choose their PD to work towards  these roles and be rewarded for specifically doing it.  There's got to be some way of rewarding merit and taking on extras.

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ES specialist should not be social studies and science.

The real need in ES is a specialist first for reading and then if they have funding then math.  I think most if not all ES have reading specialists already.

How many adults say "I'm not good at math" ?  How many ES teachers would say that?

If a teacher does not have math knowledge and confidence then they will spend less time teaching it and more time playing silly math games.    
[/quote]

Well, kids benefit from having a primary teacher who knows them and their record well.  Reading specialists as they are currently defined do assessments and targeted supports for struggling students.  I think that role should stay.  My point about science and social studies specialists is that these can be done in more innovative ways by a specialist teacher who solely focuses on that much like an art teacher solely focuses on art.  The more we can take off the plate of the general elementary teacher the more they can focus on learning.  Elementary school teachers (except the new resident teacher position!) have to pass the praxis which assesses math knowledge.  If all they were supposed to teach was reading and math they could go more in depth on it (and receive more preparation on it in their education courses).  It would be hard to have one person like a art teacher, teach math well to all the grades--it needs more careful sequencing and assessment that only the main teacher could do.  There could be a math specialist in the school whose job is like the reading specialist--targeted support for students and teaching help for struggling teachers.  This might be one of the roles a classroom teacher who was good at math/math teaching could take on for a bonus.[/quote]

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