First, thanks to Shaun, Vikki, Jacquie, and mdodd (sorry, I don’t know your first name) for clarifying the situation with IEPs.  This is the kind of information that should get out during the negotiations, and that the public hasn’t necessarily heard.  I know the dedication of three of you personally, and believe that most teachers share your desire to put their best into working with children and youth.

It seems one of the main sticking points in the negotiations is the question of “protecting the jobs of teachers” – or rather, how you reward good teachers and get rid of bad ones.

There are some crappy teachers, just as there are crappy mechanics, crappy lawyers, crappy retail staff.  Except lawyers, mechanics and retail staff can be “let go”.  Where most of the public would have a problem with the BCTF negotiating position is in a comment that Ms Dodd made to my previous post. She said, “Would you work for any employer who doesn’t acknowledge community commitment via seniority and job security?”  Actually, that’s generally how it works in the private sector.  Job security is something that very few people have.  If you don’t do your job right, you need to find another job.   Hell, if your employer doesn’t like you, you need to find another job.

The average employee in BC makes $35,000 a year.  He or she gets 2-3 weeks vacation.  Maybe unpaid time off for bereavement.  The average employee is also very dedicated.  A couple of months ago, I quit working at a place where I loved my job, and was challenged daily by the amount of information I had to learn and remember, loved the sick, injured and elderly customers I served, and was expected to do training on my (unpaid) lunch half-hours.  I made less than $12 an hour, and would never get more than 32 hours a week on average, because that would make me full-time and then the company would have to pay me benefits. I certainly know what it’s like to work two jobs!  I don’t want teachers to experience those work conditions – nobody should have to. But it’s a reality for many British Columbians, and teachers need to realize that.

So yesterday, I was feeling like the problem is that the government employers and the teachers’ union have a poisoned relationship.  Today, on further reflection, I feel like the problem is that public-sector employees are being paid in large part by a population that will never share the kind of benefits that union members get.  That isn’t right, either.  And I don’t know what the answer for it is.

I’d love to hear more thoughts – weigh in again please, previous participants.

“

My sentiments, exactly

It’s September, and in BC that means it’s the start of a new school year.  I’ve got family reasons for this being a Really Important Year (details in another post), and ideally, I should be spending significant amounts of time with teacher/administrative teams, a different one for the unique needs of each of my three boys.

But I can’t.  The teachers are on a “job action” for higher wages, more prep time, better benefits, and oh yeah, smaller class sizes, a cap to the number of “designated” students in their classes, and more learning assistants.  Because of this, the BC Teachers’ Federation has decided that teachers will not do any administrative work.  ”Students won’t be affected”, they say.  I would like the union to explain to me how not being able to discuss IEPs and put the team together, particularly for my middle son, does not affect him.

And here’s the thing: instead of both sides being reactionary and small-minded, fighting each other at every opportunity why not do something truly revolutionary?  The BCTF demands are incremental at best, and really all about maintaining the status quo.  The whole education system needs a huge rethink.  But in order to give this topic the attention it deserves, ALL the stakeholders need to stop being adversarial, and be willing to redefine everything connected to the learning environment.  I fear that in the current political – and politicized – culture of the BC education system, these kinds of radical changes will be very hard to implement.

Nothing like starting 100 days of blogging on a feisty note: tell me if you think I have missed the boat on this one .

This weekend, I picked up a pretty nice guitar for my kids.  I feel quite fortunate in how this guitar came into our life, an “anonymous” donation following a silent auction when I watched the price climb higher than I could afford to bid at the time. You know who you are…. thank you!!

It’s been in Daniel’s hands for the last couple of hours, and he’s already learned a few chords, and sounds not bad for the first day.  Ben was playing it earlier today, and looked very natural with it strapped around him, leaning back in the hammock and noodling around on the frets until he found a sound that worked for him.   They each have their own approaches, and I want them to discover for themselves, in their own way, how it works.

They seem to have acquired the “music bug” from me – we’ve been singing in the car together for years and lately, we can even make three-part harmonies work.  Both Daniel and Ben have taken up the saxophone for band, and Stephen sings like an angel.  But I’ve never pushed them to practice, and never put them in formal music lessons.  I went down that road myself when I was a kid, and as much as I loved music, I really didn’t enjoy lessons all that much. And I certainly hated practicing – I would much rather “play”.

This attitude followed me into motherhood.  With two ADHD boys (out of three boys altogether), I was afraid that forcing the discipline of practice on the kids would make music into just another “chore”.  I figured if it was really important to them, they would find music and it would draw them in.

I’m pleased to report that, thanks to modern technology, this approach is working!  The boys are used to finding out pretty much everything they want to know on the Internet, so the first thing Daniel did when he picked up the guitar was pick up the netbook as well, and look for the chords for his favourite song.  We have lyrics and charts galore at our disposal, and videos of the best musicians for technique.   We can listen and play stuff back until we’ve got the sound “right”.  We can even record our efforts and see how they sound.

Now Daniel would like to learn more about composition.  He’s got ideas in his head that he can’t get out… yet.  But I figure the answer is probably here online somewhere.

What discoveries are happening in your home that have been made easier with computers?