This blog will teach you how to learn. You will learn how to learn, no matter how many days your class has a sub. You will know how to learn, even if there are constant disruptions in your classroom. You will learn how to learn, even if your teacher appears to not be planned, not treat all of the students fairly etc.
This blog will teach you what you need to be able to learn in any classroom. Even if you have a bad teacher.
Of course, I hope you have dedicated amazing teachers. The majority of teachers I have worked with put in hundreds of unpaid hours every year and spend hundreds of their own dollars on their own classroom. If you are lucky enough to have a teacher like this, I hope you let them know regularly how much you appreciate the extra work they put in to make learning fun. They are doing more than their job and going the extra mile for you.
Even if you have a great teacher, this book will still help you. It will help you become teacher proof. Because reality is, next year you might not have a great teacher. Especially if you attend a school with a lot of students on free or reduced lunch, or you attend a school where a lot of the students are students of color.
After reading this blog, you will have what you need to be able to learn a minimum of a year worth of reading or math in a year of school - in any classroom. You will have what it takes to close the opportunity gap.
What is the opportunity gap?
The opportunity gap is the fact that in the United States your zip code matters. If you go to a school with lots of students of color or lots of students on free and reduced lunch, you will, on average, not learn as much as other students in our country.
If you are not white and not middle or upper class, you are less likely will not learn a year’s worth of knowledge this year. This is systemic racism at work.
Why? Here is one small reason.
You will have more subs than at other schools. On a sub day you probably do not learn as much.
You will have more days where your specials are canceled due to subs. You will have more days where the counselor will not do their job, and in stead will be subbing because not enough subs actually showed up.
At the same time, you will have more students in your class that come with significant challenges - like having a parent with mental illness, a parent who works 2 or more jobs, a parent who is juggling two generations and holding together an extended family etc..
These challenges will lead to more students disrupting class. All the while, you have more subs and your school counselor or instructional coach can not do their job because no sub showed up to work.
So, yes, the United States has an opportunity gap. Not all countries do. This is by design. Ask yourself, who does this opportunity gap help?
Who am I and why should you listen to me?
I am a parent of three children. I have taught in public schools for over a decade. I started in 1999, teaching middle school with Teach For America in Oakland, California. I have taught, or directly supported reading in every grade from kindergarten through eighth grade.
I now work as a teacher coach. I go and watch teachers teach. I then give them real-time feedback - just like a basketball or soccer coach, to help them help their students.
I was a student who was diagnosed with a specific learning disability in fourth grade. I was lucky to have teachers who believed I could achieve, even though I learn in a different way, and sometimes have to put in more work than the person next to me.
I love learning and writing. I love playing the piano, gardening, building terrariums and reading.
I was a student who was diagnosed with a specific learning disability in fourth grade. I was lucky to have teachers who believed I could achieve, even though I learn in a different way, and sometimes have to put in more work than the person next to me.
I love learning and writing. I love playing the piano, gardening, building terrariums and reading.
Why am I writing Teacher Proof?
It is great to help teachers, but I want students and parents to know this information. You are the one going to school. You are the one impacted by how much you learn. You are the one impacted by systemic racism and low-expectations. Low expectations for students with learning disabilities, who speak English as a second language, and students who are poor. Even if you are white and middle or upper income, you are impacted when fellow citizens of this world do not get a world-class education. Please amplify the voices of your peers.
Even if you are a world-class teacher, your students will be impacted by this. Maybe not in your class, but next year or the year after that.
Why is Teacher Proof important?
Even if you are a world-class teacher, your students will be impacted by this. Maybe not in your class, but next year or the year after that.
Why is Teacher Proof important?
Climate change. Conflicts. War.
We need EVERY person educated to the best of their ability to change this world for the better.
Poets. Doctors. Writers. Professional Sports Players.
No matter who you are, I want you learning as much as your can. I also want you following your passion and bringing joy, creativity and love into this world.
We need everyone to share their talents and bring their joys and passions to this world.
Why should I listen to you?
Please do not accept what I say just because some random person on the internet said it. I will always ask you to listen to yourself. Try out the ideas if you think they are good.
More importantly, listen to the ideas that bubble up in YOU after reading the blog. Those ideas are the ones that will change the world. And when you have a good idea, share it! Did it work? Please share. Did it not work out how you thought it would? PLEASE share those ideas too and tell us what happened. We can all learn this way!
