The love, compassion and heroism of teachers - Connecticut Post

The love, compassion and heroism of teachers - Connecticut Post:

"They are drawn to the profession first because they love to work with young children and teens, and second because they have a passion for learning and their subject area. The really good ones rush into the hallway in the high schools when there is a fight among students, so they can protect these kids they care about from getting injured. They sit beside a struggling young reader and give that student the confidence to plow forward by pointing out first a couple of things the child has done well, and second an area of focus where the child can stretch to gain skills. They share in the sorrows of their students by attending family funerals, share in the pride of their students' accomplishments by accepting a families' invitations to outside performances and community award ceremonies, and in some lucky instances even get to know their students in later years as adults when they appear at parent conference night standing at the door to the classroom with children of their own in tow."

Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/opinion/article/The-love-compassion-and-heroism-of-teachers-4132290.php#ixzz2FhaiT2jW
'via Blog this'

CTU Strike! Their Fight is Our Fight!

CTU Strike! Their Fight is Our Fight!: "The strike was a success!  The CTU was able to win many of their demands in the new contract.  Below is a partial list of the language in the new agreement between the CTU and CPS:
"

'via Blog this'

Teachers in Chicago School Strike Deserve Respect - Susan Milligan (usnews.com)

Teachers in Chicago School Strike Deserve Respect - Susan Milligan (usnews.com): " And what is often forgotten, in the resentment of public sector salaries, is that it has been unions that set the labor standards for all of us. The weekend? The 40-hour workweek? It was unions that got those established as a general standard. Cutting salaries for public-sector workers would indeed ease the pressure on government budgets, but it also lower the standard for the workforce as a whole. If public salaries go down, private sector compensation will follow."

'via Blog this'

Teachers in Chicago School Strike Deserve Respect - Susan Milligan (usnews.com)

Teachers in Chicago School Strike Deserve Respect - Susan Milligan (usnews.com): " And what is often forgotten, in the resentment of public sector salaries, is that it has been unions that set the labor standards for all of us. The weekend? The 40-hour workweek? It was unions that got those established as a general standard. Cutting salaries for public-sector workers would indeed ease the pressure on government budgets, but it also lower the standard for the workforce as a whole. If public salaries go down, private sector compensation will follow."

'via Blog this'

Chicago's Teachers Just Went On Strike -- Here's Everything You Need To Know About Why | Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC)

Chicago's Teachers Just Went On Strike -- Here's Everything You Need To Know About Why | Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC): "Why are these 29,000 teachers and school workers going on strike in the nation’s third-largest public school district?

Because they want what all workers want: fair pay and decent working conditions. They also want what all teachers want — to serve their students to their best of their abilities.

Here’s a few things you need to know about the strike, and why the CTU is right and Mayor Rahm Emanuel — who has failed to fairly bargain with the union — is wrong:"

'via Blog this'

In Chicago Teachers’ Strike, Signs of Unions Under Siege - NYTimes.com

In Chicago Teachers’ Strike, Signs of Unions Under Siege - NYTimes.com: "If the famously feisty Mr. Emanuel wins this confrontation, he could set the table for a major setback for teachers’ unions nationwide and a potential rethinking of teachers’ enthusiasm for Democrats in this year’s elections. Advocates of sweeping education changes like Michelle Rhee, the former head of the school system in Washington, will be able to declare that if Chicago’s mighty union was willing to accept such changes, so should teachers’ union locals across the nation.

“The teachers’ unions are on the defensive on many more fronts than they used to be,” said Chester E. Finn Jr., a longtime education analyst who heads the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative-leaning education policy group in Washington. “It used to be they could just fight vouchers and charter schools. But now they face this huge set of issues,” not to mention budgetary pressures that have caused large-scale layoffs. Weakening the unions’ leverage and ranks, more than 300,000 school employees have lost their jobs since the recession ended in June 2009."

'via Blog this'

Teachers’ Strike in Chicago Tests Mayor and Union - NYTimes.com

Teachers’ Strike in Chicago Tests Mayor and Union - NYTimes.com: "Outside the schools here, though, in the lines of marchers, the issues seemed ever broader. Many teachers said they were troubled by a new evaluation system and its reliance on student test scores. Teachers spoke of rising class sizes, much-needed social workers, a dearth of air-conditioned classrooms and slow-to-arrive reference books, and, again and again, a sense of disrespect.

Teachers also clearly saw the strike as a protest not just of the union negotiations in Chicago but on data-driven education reform nationwide, which many perceived as being pushed by corporate interests and relying too heavily on standardized tests to measure student progress.

At Lane Tech College Prep, where many passing motorists honked their support for the teachers, Steve Parsons, a teacher, said he believed the city was ultimately aiming to privatize education through charter schools and computer programs that teach classes online.

“We need to stay out as long as it takes to get a fair contract and protect our schools,” he said."

'via Blog this'