Members: Nour, Toma', Derek, Adam, Ahmed, and Samey

 Topic: K-12 Teacher Tenure

Claim:  Its a great idea to end k- 12 teacher tenure because it minimizes special privileges for those teachers who have been in the school for years. and give incentive for younger teachers to compete with tenure teachers, leading to the educational benefit of the students. Tenure makes seniority the main factor in dismissal decisions, instead of teacher performance and quality.

 (The idea to end Tenure for k-12 teachers is a really, really, really, awesome idea. Fuck special privileges)

"Introduction Plan"

introduction strategies

Its a great idea to end Tenure because it minimizes special privileges for those teachers who have been in the school for years and give incentive for younger teachers to compete with tenure teachers, leading to the educational benefit of the students. Tenure makes seniority the main factor in dismissal decisions, instead of teacher performance and quality.

The audience would be Detroit Public School Board, teachers union, and concerned parents. These groups are our potential audience because the Detroit Public School board will be pressured to make changes, teacher unions will be forced to compromise, and parents will be made aware of what is happening in their children's school. 

"Tips on researching and drafting a Background section"

The author should offer several competing perspectives on the topic, such as inadequate teaching 

We want to define tenure as a national problem, that effects schools all across the country.

We want to to prove that tenure is unfair and unearned in k-12.

We want to show that tenure should be done with because it is more costly to fire a tenured teacher than it would be to keep them.

http://www.publicschoolspending.com/daily-updates/michigan-is-one-step-closer-to-ending-the-nightmare-of-teacher-tenure/

http://teachertenure.procon.org/

"Body Paragraph Outline"

Tenure Encourages teachers to compete for their spots

     Teachers feel the urge to perform so as to keep their jobs, rather than working poorly without fear of      getting fired.

In early March, President Obama offered a blunt assessment of how schools in the

United States have worsened, and the role teacher quality has played in this decline:

     He stated this:

     “Despite resources that are unmatched anywhere in

     the world, we’ve let our grades slip, our schools

     crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other

     nations outpace us…It’s time to expect more from

     our students. It’s time to reward good teachers, stop

     making excuses for bad ones…If a teacher is given

     a chance or two or three but still does not improve,

     there’s no excuse for that person to continue

     teaching. I reject a system that rewards failure and

     protects a person from his consequences. The

     stakes are too high. We can afford nothing but the

     best when it comes to our children’s teachers and

     the schools where they teach.”

Teachers should be held accountable for their actions and if they can’t uphold to the position that was given to them, then they don’t need to be teaching. If our President can see that Tenure isn’t a great idea then this must mean that a change must take place.