Anxiety

The OTES (Ohio Teacher Evaluation System) is giving me anxiety.  This is my 21st year teaching.  I'm not a teacher because I enjoy summer vacation, have weekends off, and have all those vacations and days off.  I am a teacher because at some point in my life, I felt that working with kids was my way to make the world a better place.
I blame the media for my  feeling of "optimism" about making the world a better place.

• Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror"
• Robin Williams in Dead Poet's Society as John Keating, the teacher who wanted his students to "Carpe Diem" and walk their own walk. (Oh Captain My Captain Rest in Peace)
• Bob Geldof and Live Aid (the concert across the world that raised money for Africa)
• Lean on Me ( a movie that made me want to be Joe Clark)

I think going to Catholic school  also had that impact on me as we were constantly reminded of the people who had less than we did and how just giving what we had to others would help make the world a better place.

Back to anxiety.  

OTES is the new form of teacher evaluation.  I have seen training about it make principals talk about changing their  careers.  

I'm anxious.

I think I  am a good teacher.  

I hope the state of Ohio feels the same.

Gandhi is  credited with saying "Be the change you wish to see in the world".  

Do they measure that on  standardized tests? 

I chose to be an Intervention Specialist (Special education teacher) because I love working with students who needed a little extra to learn.  

Do they measure that on standardized tests?

I fully believe that the energy you put into the universe is the energy you will get back.  If you put positive energy out there, you will get positive energy back.  Negative energy yields negative and nothing gives you nothing.

I try to put my everything into everything I do.

Do they measure that on standardized tests?

I read, re-tweeted and favorited a twitter post from a guy named Jordan Shapiro the other day: "School is about transmitting values from 1 generation to the next, not organizing labor toward productivity" (Article link) Is that measured on a standardized test?

I sat in church last week and our preacher said that it was important for us to make sure we  instilled a sense of value in the people we see in our day.  It is important to make sure that the child knows they are valued.

Is that measured on a standardized test?

Yeah...I'm having anxiety.