School Board - TFA Testimony
Let's start with pro arguments:
- on speaker was yet another ex-TFAer, Timothy Schlosser who is now a TFA teaching coach. (I asked one SPS teacher about being a coach after maybe 3-5 years in the classroom and he laughed. That does seem a short period of time to become a coach. But maybe not a TFA coach.)
But he was also the former TFAer that I quoted in my testimony and here's what he said in 2008 to an LA Timescolumnist about his first year of teaching:
"My students deserved more than I was able to deliver. That's a year lost they can't recoup. I still feel bad that I wasn't better."
Take that in.
And my testimony continued, "All first-year teachers have their moments of doubt but to hire people who were trained in less than 6 weeks and have them learn all their teaching skills on the job is not the best way to hire the best teachers for the students of SPS." I also like to think that most first-year teachers, no matter their
- on speaker was yet another ex-TFAer, Timothy Schlosser who is now a TFA teaching coach. (I asked one SPS teacher about being a coach after maybe 3-5 years in the classroom and he laughed. That does seem a short period of time to become a coach. But maybe not a TFA coach.)
But he was also the former TFAer that I quoted in my testimony and here's what he said in 2008 to an LA Timescolumnist about his first year of teaching:
"My students deserved more than I was able to deliver. That's a year lost they can't recoup. I still feel bad that I wasn't better."
Take that in.
And my testimony continued, "All first-year teachers have their moments of doubt but to hire people who were trained in less than 6 weeks and have them learn all their teaching skills on the job is not the best way to hire the best teachers for the students of SPS." I also like to think that most first-year teachers, no matter their
Many Finger Puppets, Only One Hand
It isn't that hard to create the illusion of consensus where none exists. All you have to do it use multiple voices.
The Gates Foundation has essentially pulled the same trick. Rather than speaking with a single voice, the voice of the Gates Foundation, it speaks as a chorus. Their message is carried by their proxies: the League of Education Voters, the Alliance for Education, the Our Schools Coalition, Stand for Children, Democrats for Education Reform, Washington STEM, A+ Washington, Excellent Schools Now, Partnership for Learning, Teachers United, Crosscut, the Washington State PTA, and more. They are all mouthpieces for the Gates Foundation, yet when they each speak it creates the illusion of a broad consensus, but it actually just one voice, multiplied.
There are many finger puppets, but only one hand. So even if all of them speak it still counts as only one person, only one vote.
The Gates Foundation has essentially pulled the same trick. Rather than speaking with a single voice, the voice of the Gates Foundation, it speaks as a chorus. Their message is carried by their proxies: the League of Education Voters, the Alliance for Education, the Our Schools Coalition, Stand for Children, Democrats for Education Reform, Washington STEM, A+ Washington, Excellent Schools Now, Partnership for Learning, Teachers United, Crosscut, the Washington State PTA, and more. They are all mouthpieces for the Gates Foundation, yet when they each speak it creates the illusion of a broad consensus, but it actually just one voice, multiplied.
There are many finger puppets, but only one hand. So even if all of them speak it still counts as only one person, only one vote.
