What it's like to be a Public school HS teacher at end of year

Early this week I learned in the Washington Post that students in a local suburban high school are waging a campaign to allow cell phone use in school.
At lunch, at the very least, they say. And today a Post editorial actually endorsed the change. (If that happens, all the more reason to send your kids to private or parochial schools.)
Now our "Teaching Stories" author (Ynonymous) has sent along another description of her life as a high school science teacher in a local suburban public school district. Issue 3- End-of-School-Year Thrills helps to put the state of the adolescent mind into perspective. Why would we want to enable students to self-distract any more than at present? Read it. You'll feel like you're there in the classroom, but you'll be glad it's she and not you!

Standardized tests, technology and teaching

Here's a new episode for our teaching stories series. This one, called "Aftermath: Testing, Technology and Teaching, " is a follow-up to Episode 1, "The Missing Test Booklet" . No wonder teachers hate no-child-left-behind so much. Standardized testing invites technology; technology invites human error. Who has to fix it? And on whose time? The teacher, of course.

Thanks to our journaling teacher...we'll call her Ynonymous, for letting us peek into the craziness of her world.

Ever think about chucking it all for teaching?

News accounts suggest that lots of us have and still are. A friend of mine is a public high school science teacher in a highly regarded suburban Washington school district, who's kept a journal of her experience since she joined teaching after a successful career elsewhere. If you're a parent, if you're a teacher, if you're even THINKING of someday becoming a public school teacher, these stories are riveting and detailed. They'll make you feel as if you're in the school with her, real time! Click on Episode 1- The Missing Test Booklet to get a reality check on how public school systems work.