BE HEARD!

Teachers – let your voices be heard!

The single most important thing we can do, if we are ever to fix the real problems with education, is to let classroom teacher voices be heard!

Please join all of us and submit a passage that I can use as the heart of a blog piece.  Your submission can be anonymous, or you can use your name!  But we need people to hear from you.

How?

• Write a 250-300 word passage on one of the topics listed below in the table of contents to the 2^nd edition of Lifting the Curtain: The disgrace we call urban high school education.
• At the bottom, you must cut-and-paste the following statement that allows me the right to use it on the blog, and for other leading blogs to re-blog your submission, as I have for dozens of other teacher passages:

The enclosed submission is my work and is being provided to D.A. Russell and LiftingTheCurtain.com with full rights for publication, if accepted, on the blog “LiftingTheCurtainOnEducation”, and also for use on related web, blog, Facebook and other media for the purpose of promoting the call for help from legislators, parents and DoEs to help fix the real problems with education. If the submission is selected and included, I attest that I am the full and sole owner of the submission, and that I will receive no compensation for the use of my submission.

• Decide whether you wish to be anonymous, or use your name. You will need to provide basic class and location information (ex:  8^th grade English teacher in Nevada).  You must cut-and-paste the following at the end of your submission:

Select one:

• ___ Identify me as anonymous
• ___ Identify me as ________________ (First name and initial only)
• ___ Identify me as ________________ (First name and last name)

My profession is:

• ___ Teacher
• ___ SPED
• ___ School Administration
• ___ Other ____________________

Course or specialty __________________ (Ex: Math, Special Ed, Music)
Grade level:

• ___ Elementary
• ___ Middle school
• ___ High School

I am:

• ___ Active
• ___ Retired

My school is/was located:

• ___ the USA state of _______________________
• ___ other _______________________

• Email your submission to: don@LiftingTheCurtain.com
• I will review it, and if it is accepted I will edit it for grammar and clarity (but NEVER for content), then send it back to you to approve or disapprove any edits I made before publishing your views.
• Only a couple guidelines!
  • No flaming or histrionics
  • No personal attacks on anyone — even if they deserve it!
  • No blaming it on liberals, conservatives, republicans, democrats, aardvarks, or plutonians
  • Write your submission in a manner where those outside the classroom can respect, and start to learn from your passage

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Potential topics:

Lifting the Curtain:  The disgrace we call urban high school education (2^nd Edition)

Introduction

(Chapter 1) Caveat – Some Truth in Advertising

(Chapter 2) False Introduction (Teachers as seen in the media)

(Chapter 3) The Real Introduction (The one that no one wants to hear)

The Challenge

(Chapter 4) Intentional Misdirection by Career DoE Bureaucrats and School Admins

(Chapter 5) Teachers Bullied by School Administrators – The Silence of the Lambs

Clear Signs of Educational Failure

(Chapter 6) Failure – Readiness for college

(Chapter 7) Failure – Rapid loss of good teachers

(Chapter 8) Failure – Charter school failures

(Chapter 9) Failure – Loss of music, arts, and electives

(Chapter 10) Failure – The increase in homeschooling

(Chapter 11) Failure – Cheating and rampant cronyism in schools

(Chapter 12) Failure – Resistance to Common Core and standardized testing

An Original Survey of Teachers and Students

(Chapter 13) Setting the table – Teacher and Student Views

(Chapter 14) The Student and Teacher Survey Results

Three Myths We Must Debunk 

(Chapter 15) Myth #1 – Children don’t want to learn anymore

(Chapter 16) Myth #2 – The main problem with education is too many bad teachers

(Chapter 17) Myth #3 – All we need to fix education is more funding

The Eight Systemic Causes of Education Failure 

(Chapter 18) The symptoms of failure are not the causes of failure

(Chapter 19) Systemic Failure #1:  Unintended Consequences – good intentions gone horribly wrong

(Chapter 20) Systemic Failure #2:  Unqualified Administrators and rampant cronyism

(Chapter 21) Systemic Failure #3:  Inclusion classes – everyone loses

(Chapter 22) Systemic Failure #4:  Special Education – Hijacked by parents

(Chapter 23) Systemic Failure #5:  “Bureaucrat” – Our newest four-letter word

(Chapter 24) Systemic Failure #6:  Burned out teachers

(Chapter 25) Systemic Failure #7:  The Untouchables – Parents, and Teacher Unions

(Chapter 26) Systemic Failure #8:  Rewards unrelated to performance

Practical Solutions 

(Chapter 27) The solution – Surprise!  There is one, and it’s not more money

(Chapter 28) Concluding Remarks