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LETTERS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor, I was really pleased to see in the June 2010 California Educator the article “Member ben- efi ts add value to membership, including new summer savings.” The info on managing your money and 403(b)/457 plans was helpful, and it was good to know about the savings our membership gets us on car rentals, books and travel. Great also that you included how to access these benefi ts online! You always hear about savings that we get through the association but sometimes it can be hard to fi gure out how to take full advantage of them. This article spelled it out clearly. Thanks! Julie Law CFA, San Francisco State University Dear Editor, I enjoyed your article on one-room school- houses published in the June 2010 California Educator. I also taught in a one-room school- house from 1944 to 1945. The school was located in a log town named Wallace, not too far from San Andreas in Calaveras County, and I was 20 years old. Wallace consisted of a postal offi ce, a bar and a restaurant. The superinten- dent from San Andreas visited me only one time during that year to see how the educa- tion of the children was going. When I think California Teachers Association June 2010 Volume 14 Issue 9 about it, not having any teaching experience other than teaching Sunday school, it amazes me that all went well. I have taught in fi ve diff erent public elementary schools during my 55-year career. I am 86 and a half years of age now and still give thanks silently to my mother for encouraging me to train as a teacher. I hope you enjoyed this retired teacher’s story of her experience in a one-teacher school. Elizabeth Warda Essa “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” Friedrich Nietzsche c Send us your omments Letters to the editor regarding stories appearing in California Educator may be sent via mail, fax or e-mail. Resiliency LAST OF THE One-room schoolhouses page 8 page 16 address: California Educator Magazine CTA Communications 1705 Murchison Drive Burlingame, CA 94010-4583 fax: (650) 552-5002 e-mail: editor@cta.org UPDATE UPDATE In November 2008, California Educator reported that Torrance classrooms were “bursting at the seams” with most classes having 38 students and many having 40 or more. Since then, there has been a torren- tial increase in class sizes throughout the district. Average class sizes at Torrance’s four comprehensive middle and high schools have increased to 40 to 43 students per class. That’s up from 38 to 40 students per class the year before. Two years ago, the average freshman English and math class in the district had just 20 students, which means class sizes have doubled or more than doubled in some cases. Fourth and fi fth grade classrooms have 34 to 36 students this year. The reason is that 400 teaching posi- tions have been cut over the past three years, says Torrance Teachers Association President Julie Shankle. Five years ago her chapter had 1,500 members, and now there are about 1,000 TTA members. Teachers are responding to the deluge by not grading every essay paper, and many worry that some students may be falling through the cracks. “The impact on the learning environ- ment has gotten to the point where teach- ers have to develop alternate strategies and apply them to traditional teaching meth- ods, which mainly involve crowd control and classroom and paper management,” says Shankle. “These are the largest class sizes Torrance teachers have ever had to deal with.” 6 California Educator | OCTOBER 2010 SPECIAL ELECTION ISSUE California Teachers Association November 2008 Volume 13 Issue 3 “Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.” James A. Baldwin ON CALIFORNIA BUDGET CUTS INFLICT PAIN SCHOOLS > Page 18 TEACHING IN TOUGH THE NEW POOR ECONOMIC TIMES > Page 6 QEIA MAKING PROGRESS > Page 24 D E E P E R 1-Cov-new-Nov.08.indd 1 B U D G E T C U T S L O O M I N G — P A G E 3 6 11/13/08 6:09:48 PM