Friday, September 7, 2012

No Fab Formula for Jalen Rose - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

No Fab Formula for Jalen Rose - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

Teacher in a Strange Land



No Fab Formula for Jalen Rose

Shortly after I retired from a 31-year stint as a public school teacher, I applied for a part-time job in a Detroit charter school. Why? Because they were seeking a twice-weekly middle school jazz band teacher plus someone to lead professional development for a crew of mostly novice teachers. I was, shall we say, highly qualified. Plus--I had spent nearly my entire career in a "safe"--and wonderful--small town district. I wanted the challenge of teaching in the center of Detroit, part of the "reform" zeitgeist.
At the interview, a few days before the school opened, the superintendent--who was not and never had been an educator--asked me about instructions she'd been given by the school's founder. He told her to direct all teachers to assign a heavy load of homework on Day One, due on the second day. Students who didn't