Question for those who have taught in NYC and LI

Do you have more freedom to actually teach in LI than in NYC?

Just wondering

Re: Question for those who have taught in NYC and LI

I teach in NYC and have a lot of freedom

Re: Question for those who have taught in NYC and LI

I too have it. It's the disciplinary freedom that we dont' have.

Re: Question for those who have taught in NYC and LI

I am a Literacy Coach in NYC and I think we have a lot of freedom in my school. Our lessons are based on the needs of the kids.

Re: Question for those who have taught in NYC and LI

See Im wondering because in the city I know they focus a lot on test prep and in most schools TC for reading and writing...which if you teach anything 3rd grade and above its pretty much all scripted or your school tells you what to teach. Hence not much freedom to teach how you would want.

In that respect is it like that in LI? Me and another teacher friend of mine are questioning it since people claim its better to teach in LI (besides higher pay and shorter commute) so we are wondering if theres more of that kind of freedom in LI.

Re: Question for those who have taught in NYC and LI

absolutely!

they don't care that you have stupid bulletin boards up, i teach reading and writing the way i want to with about being a slave to TC, i teach math the way I want, etc. etc. I have so much more opportunity to teach the kids the way i see fit on LI than I did in the city.

the only thing i see on LI is different, is that the parents often get what they want, even when they're wrong.

Re: Question for those who have taught in NYC and LI

A simple answer: YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Question for those who have taught in NYC and LI

Re: Question for those who have taught in NYC and LI

I teach in LI 3rd grade for 11 years and I feel I had more freedom to teach the way I wanted before the state tests came to third grade. Now everything is " how are we preparing for the kids for the test" etc...

We also have the Aussie Reading Program in our school. We have a blocked Literacy Time every afternoon from 1:30-3:00 where we are expected to follow the Aussie schedule- Shared Reading with a mini-lesson, Independent Reading, Conferencing and guided reading... So it has become more controlled in my district..

Re: Question for those who have taught in NYC and LI

I think it really varies from district to district. I student taught on LI. They were free to teach literacy how they wanted, but we did hear about "the test, the test, what are we doing for the test?!?!?!" They were anal about the bulletin boards too. Everything had to have standards and tasks and comments. It depends solely on where you are and what principal you have!