Chris VanGilder

Director of Bands, Arkansas City High School, Arkansas City, Kansas

[Jen @jenteach13]

A teacher who grades papers at midnight and writes lesson plans on Sunday morning is not going above and beyond. She is doing the job. The job just does not fit in the hours anyone admits it takes.

[Chris VanGilder @ArkVG]

@FixingEducation I love teaching! I love the students! When those two facts don't override the rest of the bs that goes with the job, I will retire. Just finished year 36.

[Thrilla the Gorilla @ThrillaRilla369]

Friendly reminder

Oil takes months to extract, refine, and ship worldwide. Yet, a conflict starts overseas and gas prices spike the very next day. The fuel at your local station was purchased months ago. That immediate price hike is a completely rigged monopoly.

[skumm🧊 @skumWgmi]

My kid's school asked me to donate supplies.

Paper. Pencils. Hand sanitizer. Tissues.

I pay property taxes.
My state has a $4 billion surplus.
The federal education budget is $238 billion.

And the teacher is buying pencils out of her own paycheck.

And I'm sending in Ziploc bags.

We fund stadiums for billionaires with public money.

We fund schools with bake sales.

And then blame teachers when test scores drop.

[Fixing Education @FixingEducation]

Do you know who dislikes the lack of accountability for misbehaved students in schools even more than teachers?

The good kids who actually want to learn.

They’re often the ones being silently bullied, distracted, intimidated, or forced to sit in chaos every day while administrators let it continue.

When a severely misbehaved student is suspended, it’s often a relief for the students trying to do the right thing, too.

[Brian Tolentino M.Ed @TolentinoTeach]

If you haven’t taught in a classroom post-Covid, you don’t know what it is like to teach the modern student.

The students have changed.

Teaching has changed.

You have to be in the classroom daily to understand what I mean.

[Jen @jenteach13]

Nobody talks about the Spanish teacher who is the PE teacher today. The math teacher is covering the art room. The counselor is teaching English. All of it is happening because there is nobody else. This happens every single day in schools across this country.

[Chris VanGilder @ArkVG]

@FixingEducation Screen time!

[Chris VanGilder @ArkVG]

@FixingEducation Kansas. Public. May 21st

[Mr G @DeputyGrocott]

There are educators right now buying things with their own money,skipping breaks (breaks?),replying to emails late at night & carrying the emotional weight of dozens of children daily…
…& still being told they “don’t do enough.”
Teachers deserve far more respect than they get.

[Fixing Education @FixingEducation]

Hard truth:

Schools cannot fully overcome poor parenting.

Teachers are burning out trying to do the jobs of educator, counselor, disciplinarian, and parent all at once.

At some point, accountability has to return to the home.

[beanie0597_2.0 @0Beanie05923291]

Uncomfortable truth: “Credit Recovery” doesn’t exist to help students make up learning they missed. It exists so school districts can issue undeserving students diplomas then boast about “record high graduation rates”.

[𐌁𐌉Ᏽ 𐌕𐌉𐌌𐌉 @OrevaZSN]

Schools should significantly reduce the use of Chromebooks and return to paper and pencil as the primary tools for learning. There is a strong connection between writing by hand and how the brain processes, retains, and understands information.

[𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐝 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 @DrBradJohnson]

Teacher Appreciation.

[Chris VanGilder @ArkVG]

@DreamBlue99781 @DScottFritchen Jordy is busy coaching his kid's teams

[Daniel Buck, “Youngest Old Man in Ed Reform” @MrDanielBuck]

If a student doesn’t show up for 60 percent of the year, if they cannot read or do math, if they turn in zero assignments and fail every test, they should not advance to the next grade

In fact, socially promoting them would do them a disservice.

Why is this controversial?

[Fixing Education @FixingEducation]

The amount of paperwork and prep required to take a day off as a teacher is wild. It’s honestly easier to just show up with my suffocating allergies.

[Miles Commodore @miles_commodore]

I might be in the minority on this, but I feel the whole COVID fiasco has done permanent damage to our ability to interact with one another.

[Fixing Education @FixingEducation]

A 6th grade student misses over 30% of the school year and puts in almost no effort…and the school’s solution is to pass them along to the next grade.

Hmmm, I wonder how they will do next year. 😐

[𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐝 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 @DrBradJohnson]

Want to change education overnight?
Get rid of standardized tests.
Get rid of standardized teacher evaluations.
Because nothing about students or teachers is standard.
Machines are standardized.
Assembly lines are standardized.
Education isn’t.
But we keep treating people like parts in a system.
And that’s how you keep getting mediocrity