Today I end a 24-year
teaching career. It’s not because I can
officially retire—I have enough years of service but not age. It’s not because of ill health—thank
goodness. It’s not because I don’t like
my job—I’m passionate about teaching and since I was a high school sophomore,
it’s the only career I ever thought to pursue.
It’s not because I don’t have good colleagues—I have the best team on
campus. It’s not because I don’t like my students—I think I relate well to them
and I truly care about them.
After 24 years, I am leaving
because the DOE is making it impossible for me to stay. As a teacher, I knew I would be subject to a
top-heavy bureaucracy and there would be cumbersome policies that I would be
called upon to implement. I’ve seen a lot of change in the two-plus decades
I’ve been at Farrington (my alma mater, by the way) and though I didn’t always
like the policies, I was always willing to roll with it and give it a try.
Not anymore.
The system is abusive to its
teachers and the worst part of it is it is the better teachers who are most
affected by this abuse. Bad teachers go
on doing what they always do: NOTHING. They don’t relate well to the kids, they ride
on the coattails of their colleagues and when called to task, they plead
ignorance. They must do it well because
there are too many of them and they make the same amount of money, or more,
than I do.
Yet it’s never been about
the monetary angle for me. It’s the
inconsistencies and the contradictions; rather than take care of these “educators,”
the system passes policies across the board; policies that make more work for
the good teachers who are conscientious professionals and policies that don’t
truly serve the population they claim to:
the students.
Dear DOE, I am tired of you. I am tired of you poking your nose into my
classroom and telling me what you think is best for my kids. And they truly are
“my” kids. I am the one who identifies
their weaknesses and tailors my teaching to them. I am the one who challenges them to excel and
holds them to a standard that is high, but realistic. I see them as the
individuals they are and you judge them based on STANDARDIZED tests? How dare you!
Though I would like to say
that I am personally unlike the DOE, I’m afraid that’s not true. You see I, too, have STANDARDS, professional
and personal standards that do not agree with the changes being made. I refuse to be a part of anything I cannot
support. I refuse to go through the
motions. And, I refuse to put aside my
personal values for the sake of a job.
People keep asking me if I’m
sad. Of course I am. I will miss teaching and I will certainly
miss my kids. But mostly, I am sad that it had to come to this; teaching should
have been my only career.
Its sad for the people who will never get the chance to learn from you… "Teachers change the world one child at a time". I think the people in the DOE should have taken you in high school. LOL (^_^)
ReplyDeleteWow. That was a strong, and powerful ending. I love it!
ReplyDeleteMrs. Sadoyama, I am really proud to have had the opportunity of being one of your "kids." You have taught your students to the best of your ability, connected with them on levels that other teachers could ever hope, and I can honestly say, you were just one of the best damn teachers a student could ever ask for. The DOE has lost one of their most inspiring, intellectual, kind-hearted educators a student could have. However, I do hope that you will pursue a job that will give you as much happiness as teaching has done for you. I can only wish the best for you Mrs. Sadoyama. Thank you again, from the apex of my cardio, for everything you have done for us. We are truly grateful for your presence in our lives.
I applaud your honesty and your illustrious career (which is obvious from the comment above!). I too refuse to participate in such ridiculous policies that are not only without any solid research backing them up, but are, to us professionals, the WRONG direction in order to improve the education of our keiki. I am doing my own form of refusal though. I refused to participate in the SLO & Core Professionalism components of the EES this year (not too gutsy, I know, since it's a pilot year), and I taught my sophomores Orwell's 1984 and exposed them to USDOE's research on technologies to monitor their behavior in school (and outside of school when the public education has supposedly been completely taken over by private companies, some of which will have them stay at home to do all their studies in front of a computer!). I'm going to the NEA National Convention to propose resolutions to strengthen the fight against these (not REforms, but...) DEforms. I will also represent Hawaii in the march in Washington, D.C. this summer fantastically timed on our first day to report back to work for SY '14-'15 (my wonderful principal granted my personal leave!). If you or others who read your blog and take your words to heart, please join me! I was blessed by friends & family donating their mileage to help me with all this travel, but if others who would like to fight, have them "like" Hawaii Teachers Work To The Rules on Facebook and Hawaii BATs and Badass Teachers Association. THIS is the kind of summer reading we teachers AND former teachers can benefit from in order to save our profession. This is NOT just going to "go away" like so many other reforms. This has BIG MONEY behind it, and the only hope not to have our union dismantled, our benefits reduced (or taken away), and our pay reduced is to FIGHT! Blessings to you, and I know your future life will be AMAZING as you have given so much and deserve so much MORE!!! Keep us posted, and keep spreading your story everywhere you go! No one who is not experiencing this directly understands, and our students need our support to tell their story out in the community so people will believe them!
ReplyDeleteThe Department of Education and the Peace Corps have much in common. I thank you very much for your well-written explanation.
ReplyDeleteOMG. I have chills, because so much of your analysis resonates with me. I'm not worried as much about how education deform affects 'bad teachers,' because I honestly think that good teaching, like anything else, requires support, and without that support, ANYONE can become demoralized, alienated and reduced to being an 'employee' who clocks in and clocks out. And I am seeing precisely that process of demoralization happen even to the 'best' teachers amongst us. Think about how you are strengthened and empowered as a teacher when you feel confident enough to reach and support someone who needs the help. Both parties benefit - it is mutual - and ultimately, the students and community do as well. One of the biggest problems with the ways in which we have allowed these so-called reforms to progress is that we have not prevented them from being used to divide us. Our interests are clearly NOT served by an unequal partnership with the employer, and these reforms definitely only serve the interests the interests of a very specific group of adults, definitely not those of children.
ReplyDeleteThank you for giving me, and the other students, a chance to have a wonderful teacher.
ReplyDeleteJudy, I'm a teacher, too, and understand exactly where you're coming from. The DOE model for leadership is antiquated, ill suited for the challenges of the 21st century. I think you have a lot more to offer the students of Hawaii, now and in the future, but perhaps in a different role. I would urge you to return to grad school and earn a doctorate in Ed Admin, with a concentration on school reforms that might work for the students of Hawaii. And I'd further urge you to pursue a leadership position in the DOE that will allow you to make the kinds of changes that are needed. Our keiki are our future, and they deserve the best possible education system. Mahalo for all your years of service. (Only another teacher would understand exactly what that means.) Very best wishes. -Jim
ReplyDeleteI thank all of you for your comments. The support has been phenomenal and I never expected such a huge response.
ReplyDelete*snap *snaps with *applauds������ Spoken like a "REAL TEACHER," from the heart! Thank you for the truth and all your service to our Mighty GOVS... it truly isn't the same losing an amazing GOV and EDUCATOR like you. Wherever you will be placed will be as fortunate as Farrington was to have you. Blessings and Aloha to an Incredible You❤ DOE change your ways... because we're losing the GREAT ones!
ReplyDeleteHey Judy!
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking of you the other day at graduation and was wondering if you had retired (we talked in your classroom the day before I left for my new position in Dec).
I know you don't hear it enough, but I just wanted to add my thanks for all you have done for our students and school. I know my students really liked you and enjoyed your class. Not all of them passed, but nobody complained about not learning anything.
Best wishes to you in all that you do!
Alooooooha! (doing the pageant wave).
I was soo sad to hear you were retiring Mrs. Sadoyama! My niece is gonna be a senior in the Health Academy and I was looking forward to her having you as a teacher. You have impacted my life greatly at Farrington and I am sad that the DOE has pushed away one of the best teachers I know.
ReplyDeleteAaahhh Judy, Judy, Judy, It's sooo sad that a decade after I left the DOE for many of the same reasons you're leaving, that the system has not seen the error of its ways & the best ones are the ones finally getting fed up with this antiquated system.
ReplyDeleteI, too, left teaching for many of the reasons you stated--I worked for "my kids," not the DOE. As a special ed. teacher, I did whatever I could to help them believe in themselves as people who could learn, achieve, & grow up to be productive adults. If I didn't fight for them & encourage their parents to do the same, who would?... Not the school administration, not the district, not the state DOE or even our HSTA union. Finally I got tired of banging my head against a brick wall--I told my principal that I wasn't going to have my students short changed any more, that my students had been deprived of things that other SPED students had been receiving for several years (small group instruction, a classroom with few distractions--I shared a room with another SPED teacher & there were often 30 SPED students in there at one time with no aide for either group--blatant violations of their IEPs!)
The principal expected our students to make 2 years' progress in one when they were already 2 years behind & had only the same length of Language Arts & Math periods as the general ed. students under worse conditions than they would have had in their grade level classrooms (only about 15 students were left because after the sped students were gone, the gen. ed. teachers divided & ability grouped the remaining students.) No wonder they progressed & ours did not! Yet ours (the other SPED group who shared our classroom & mine) had an IEP that was supposedly federally mandated & protected each student--What a crock of you-know-what!!
It makes me sooo angry even 10 years later! Kudos to you for standing up for your beliefs! Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you change the system. I would consider it an honor to work beside you in this endeavor.
Best wishes not only for your future, but the students who will lose because they are being deprived of a very special, truly dedicated teacher who also considers your students "your kids"... Keep in touch...Pam
I am a Farrington Alumni going through school to get my diploma in secondary education. Every time I tell someone I want to become a teacher I get pushed down and say it's not worth it because of the DOE. It is very discouraging. From the comments above I see people are trying to fight for a change and this letter is strong evidence that the DOE needs to wake up and listen to the majority. Although I never personally had you as a teacher, I have heard of you. With that, thank you. You went back to your alumni and tried to make the best of what you had. Your very admirable.
ReplyDeleteMany, many, many years ago, I first substitute taught at FHS and loved every minute. They kids were polite, well-dressed (appropriately, though maybe not expensively) and eager to help a newcomer on campus, something one did not experience in many of the "better" schools. I went on to teach at several other high schools and eventually became an administrator. Those were the days! We enjoyed our jobs... but slowly, insidiously, things began to change and not for the better; of the kids, the teachers, or the school level administrators. The DOE gave us a lot of help back then, because many talented educators headed up (sometimes they were the sole staff) some great departments, disseminating useful information and/or services. They went away, replaced by bean counters and testing officials. Never having been a proponent of standardized testing as it was not used as a diagnostic tool, only a school ranking (published, of course) tool. I remember my 3rd grade teachers crying because their students came in at the bottom despite their valiant efforts (not taking into account that public housing kids came in as 5 year olds, 2 to 3 years behind everyone else).
ReplyDeleteI retired early and moved to the mainland. Guess what?! It's the same everywhere! Teachers are struggling, mandatory "training" (indoctrination?) is rampant and the best teachers are leaving. After several years of retirement I took a teaching position at a nearby high school. I was excited to be back in the classroom again, but woe is me, things had changed drastically. s a biology teacher, I started with classes of 35 and up, NO equipment, no live anything and as we were all on a curriculum map, couldn't borrow microscopes w/o much ado and didn't need them it turned out, as every "experiment" was a paper and pencil effort that was geared to "teaching to the test". Forced to sit through "workshops" (that I had taught at one time) every single Wednesday, all I heard around me were whispers such as, why am I here, I already do this and have for years, why can't I use this time to improve my lessons and, I'd rather be in the classroom with my kids. This from the good teachers... others were quietly working on more important things or quietly grumbling to their neighbors. I was told I needed to do more to "engage" the kids... that used to be my forte, How? with what? They wanted to dissect... ha, ha... they got to, at the end of the year, a clam and a starfish, not that we had studied phyla or even mentioned them, but that was what was in the storeroom. In retrospect, I am appalled at how scripted everything was. I really feel for my colleagues. More and more non-teaching duties are piled on them and in my area, the teachers had not received a raise in 8 years! They will get a 1-2% raise this coming year. Around here, teachers are considered "privileged" to teach in such a nice area...guess that makes up for not earning a decent wage.
I've rambled on, but that's what I do when I become incensed, and I've been in that state of mind for many years. I certainly agree with an earlier post that stated that it's the interests of a specific group of adults that are being served, and while never a "conspiracy theorist" I'm beginning to believe as this seems to be a nationwide problem. I'm concerned, even frightened for the future of Hawaii, Arizona and the nation if education continues to deteriorate at its present rate.
Go Govs... I've been a fan since the first day I walked your halls over 40 years ago And thank you Judy... for all you've done for your students, your colleagues and FHS. I wish you all the best. There IS a life beyond the classroom and a great teacher is ALWAYS a great teacher in everything they do. It's in their DNA.
I am not, nor have ever been in the teaching profession. But after coming across your blog, i just felt compelled to say something. I am a product of the public school system, graduated from Pahoa on the Big Island. I have had the privilege of being taught by some great teachers such as you. By some of the comments here, I know you ARE a terrific educator with the compassion and heart that makes learning a never ending journey. I'm sure you, as some of my teachers were, have been an inspiration to many students, and were pivotal in shaping their lives. I applaud your dedication and years given to FHS. I just wanted to say a big Mahalo for a job well done, and wish you many more successful years in future endeavors.
ReplyDeletePahoa Alumni
I applaud your career as a teacher and this letter on your blog. Parents today need to know the truth of what the DOE has done in the last 40 years to make teaching a profession not for the students nor the teachers, but for government beurocrats, lobbyists, administrators, textbook manufacturers, et al. I come from a family of teachers, principals and professors, attended one of the finest teacher's universities in the country for seven years and upon leaving, knew that neither the students or I would thrive the way education was headed back in the 80's. In the mid-2000's I helped a Saudi master's student with the research and English grammar on a paper he was assigned to write on Bush's "No Child left Behind" Act. Your letter nails it's idiocy.
ReplyDeletei hope you can continue to teach privately and share your mana'o and skills with all comers. Too bad ALL of this country's teachers do not possess your courage, insight and wisdom. Thank you for your hard work, dedication and Aloha for your students.
Judy I would like to comment (I'm a FHS colleague) but dare not, since I think retaliation is to be expected. If I also leave FHS (likely, at the end of summer), I might be able to comment honestly then. Vindictive people in power in the DOE are probably reading this blog, so teachers, be cautious!!!
ReplyDelete