rants part one

i wonder what i can say. i usually do not say much. ok not much on my other blog. i figure this blog can be my rant blog.

NCLB. I love education. I love special education. I have found my calling and now NCLB (No Child Left Behind) is taking the pleasure from my career.

I have been in education for 6 years. 5 of them as a special education teacher. Generally, I am a fickle person. I get bored with what i am doing. If I stick to what I am doing, I become bitter and lazy. I like change but it better be positive change. I have been able to teacher literature, algebra, geometry, and all the social sciences in special education. I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I changed up every couple of years. I have become a solid math teacher. The teachers in the math department respect my knowledge and my ability. I was a political science major in college. I am not highly qualified to teach math despite my knowledge and ability. I am highly qualified for social studies only. Thus I can teach world history, us history, economics, and government. I do love those classes, I did major and minor in that area. Thus, in the future i can only teach those few classes.

I can always become highly qualified. I could take really expensive tests that have a higher than 50% failure rate. But, then I would still need to get a credential in that subject area. Hmm, I could become the most highly qualified teacher on campus and get no reward other that being able to teach what i want. sure we get some more money when we have more post graduate units under our belts. but there is a limit to how much we get credit. i could go to the mainstream now and max out in a focused one area now. thus the credits are not meaningful.

i frustrated by the system and how it has totally overlooked special circumstances. the first thing we learned about special education is the need for it to be individualized. to be honest, all of education needs to be that way. i could look up my entire college major graduating class and we all would have taking a different route to a degree. the variety that makes college great is missing in high school. the students are all fed the same gruel. it will stifle; smother; be perfect for some. it does not work. encourage each to be the best and the brightest in what they do well not what we think they should be doing well in. you will never make me a great writer but i will be creative. enjoy it.

meanwhile, i am going to seriously consider getting out of special education and into the mainstream.