Actually I agree with much of this. I happened to be in attendance at the Toronto board when a trustee put a map on the wall with yellow sticky dots on all the LD programs and red sticky dots on the former “Slow Learner” programs which really meant low IQ or mild retardation to use an old term common at the time. The pattern clearly showed that LD was confined to the middle class areas of north Toronto, the Beaches and High Park. The poor and blue collar communities got SL programs. The TBE took the issue to the Mowat Block. The next year, the idea of specific learning disabilities had morphed into LD today which seems to mean, “not progressing fast enough.”

Naturally I do not blame the teachers for this. Malkin herself says some kids are not as easy to teach to read as others. Of course the jurisdictions that are making the most rapid progress on this are using sophisticated balanced literacy programs. States like Connecticut are a good example.

The jurisdictions that use “teacher bashing” as their main reform don’t get far.

Mr.Little,if only you weren`t an authority on everything.I highly respect Malkin`s knowledge on this and she is bang on the money-
No one bashes teachers,we bang teacher training institutions-Teachers are wonderful people who devote their lives to children.Balanced Literacy-Ha!What a joke-just a new term for whole language.Read Balanced Literacy HiJinx by Dr.Louisa Moats-It will do you the world of good.You might actually learn something!

If you thought whole-language reading instruction had been relegated to the scrap heap of history, think again. Many such programs (proven to be ineffective) are still around, but they’re hiding behind phrases like “balanced literacy” in order to win contracts from school districts and avoid public scrutiny. Louisa Moats calls them out in Fordham’s new report, Whole-Language High Jinks.

This is what SWELLS the LD numbers-dysteachia!Due to poor instruction students don`t learn and end up in special ed.

People who call for privatization.
People who call for teacher testing.
People who call for merit pay.
People who fight teacher raises.
People who fight class size reductions.
People who fight against the ELP.
People who say almost anybody can teach.
People who attack teacher professionalism by saying that certification and teacher education doesn’t matter.
People who constantly attack teachers’ federations.
People who try to tell professional teachers how to teach
People who blame teachers for not caring about their kids
People who want “their money back” to use for home schooling, private schools etc
People who say money doesn’t count in education.
People who want “other routes into teaching”.

These kind of people are known to teachers as “teacher bashers”. People who combine these beliefs and subscribe to many of them are “teacher bashers” on steroids.

BTW Jo-Anne, who made you the authority? You sure didn’t seem to know very much about adult literacy.

For locals, I had an interesting email exchange with Dr Julia O’Sullivan, Dean of Education at UWO and widely seen as one of the foremost experts in early literacy. Seems she was misquoted in an article by Margaret Wente because she supports strong early learning programs MW assumed she supported a phonics/DI type program. Dr. O’Sullivan assured me that she did not. She supports a balanced literacy approach which is the most widely supported in the literature but I’m sure you know a lot more than she does Jo-Anne.

FY1-The debate on how to most effectively teach children to read ,spell and write is conclusive.However,it still rages on to the detriment of children.Stop saying phonics-that is just silly-children need the 5 prongs of which phonemic awareness is life altering.Phonics is step 2-
I always wonder about your type-do you just need to be right in spite of the evidence before you?

Dr.Pamela Hook from Boston Massachusets hospital was invited to speak to the speech paths at TDSB last year-her words-the debate is over.
You could call Dr.Keith Stanovich if you like-he is a Canadian who has found a more rewarding research experience in the U.S. -after all why get millions of dollars in research grants when we don`t listen to a thing and the likes of you blather on erroneously?

Anyone who knows about Reading knows the research on phonemic awareness is the greatest breakthrough in reading research of the 21st century-

Phonemic Awareness Instruction

(Major points from the report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching
Children to Read An Evidence-Based Assessment of the Scientific Research
Literature on Reading and Its Implications for Reading Instruction, 2000)

  * Phonemic awareness (PA) refers to the ability to focus on and
manipulate phonemes in spoken words…. To be clear, phonemic
awareness instruction is not synonymous with phonics instruction that
entails teaching students how to use grapheme-phoneme correspondences
to decode or spell words.
  * Phonemic awareness instruction is effective in teaching children to
attend to and manipulate speech sounds in words. PA can be taught and
is effective under a variety of teaching conditions with a variety of
learners.
  * Findings show that teaching children to manipulate the sounds in
language helps them learn to read.
  * PA instruction produced positive effects on both word reading and
pseudoword reading, indicating that it helps children decode novel
words as well as remember how to read familiar words.
  * PA instruction helped all types of children improve their reading,
including normally developing readers, children at risk for future
reading problems, disabled readers, preschoolers, kindergartners, 1st
graders, children in 2nd through 6th grades (most of whom were
disabled readers), children across various SES levels, and children
learning to read in English as well as other languages.
  * PA was found to help most children learn to spell, and its effect
lasted well beyond the training. However, PA was not effective for
improving spelling in disabled readers. This is consistent with other
research indicating that disabled readers have a difficult time
learning to spell.
  * PA instruction may be [sic] most effective when children are taught
to manipulate with letters, when instruction is explicitly focused on
one or two types of phoneme manipulations rather than multiple types,
and when children are taught in small groups.
  * PA instruction is more effective when it makes explicit how children
are to apply PA skills in reading and writing.

In my experience the folks like Doug play the “teacher-bashing” card because it’s the old standard union talking point designed to gain sympathy from the public and end discussion.

Joanne’s right. No one’s bashing teachers.

It’s an old and tired ploy that Doug’s using because he’s threatened very much by how Malkin supports her statements with proof and argument that matches his own ability to draw on reports, studies etc.

I call it education envy.

To Jo-Anne, funny how many reading experts don’t agree with you. Maybe you need to tell them the war is over.

To Chuck, When teachers hear all of the above, they call it teacher bashing. You can call it anything you want.

“when teachers hear all of the above they call it teacher bashing”

no they don’t.

I don’t know what schools you hang out in Chuck but I travelled the province for 6 years and was in so many schools I lost count. This was before 28 years in the classroom, ES,SS, CAAT and university.

It is teacher bashing and that is what they call it. You can deny it till the cows come home Chuck, that does not alter reality.

Comments like

disteachia

and

maybe you have a teaching disability are teacher bashing full stop. Teachers do not cause the problems in schools. I will spell it out for you Chuck, P-O-V-E-R-T-Y causes education problems.

Teachers LOVE learning how to teach Reading so their children can succeed-we love teachers and support them.

I personally bash teacher training institutions who take a student teacher`s money and don`t give her/him the tools and knowledge they need to succeed with their students.

I also bash you for discussing apples when Chuck and I discuss bread.

You must be running for a Union or political job.You don`t even make sense.

I listed the types of comments above that teachers consider teacher bashing. Many contributors to these pages indulge in teacher bashing on an ongoing basis. “Dysteachia” “teaching disability” are teacher bashing.

You can scream “we love teachers” from the rooftops but one would never know it from the attacks on teachers and their organizations here on a daily basis.

There are many staff employed in our public educational system who should be fired, and they’re not.
Unions can’t have it both ways:  either they deal with bad members who aren’t doing their jobs, or they will have to put up with some of the frustration (teacher bashing) which results because of their refusal to do the right thing.
Personally, wanting it both ways is a childish, unreasonable way to look at the world, and yes I suppose you can say that I’m teacher bashing.

“teacher-bashing” is a throw back to when the strong arm of the teacher unions used to curse and scream at folks who disagreed with them, or heaven forbid required them to account for their actions and profession. 

Sometimes all one has to do is ask an intelligent question and the instant response is “teacher-basher!”

It’s the thing to do when there is no logical response or to divert attention away from what was being asked.

Your credentials are to be respected Doug but not knowing anything at all about the folks here your entitlement tone is quite astonishing. You don’t hold a premium on experience in the public system or traveling to visit boards.

The only difference between you and I Doug is your choice of profession.

Talk to Bev above. The difference above is that she admits if.

Chuck, if I knew your profession I could comment. Since you want to hide it, I am at a loss.

Teachers Bash Their Own

It’s not just parents and citizens who see deficiencies in our education systems, who for their observations are only too quickly labeled “teacher bashers”.  Here,  from an ex-teacher are some choice comments to our blog in BC, The Report Card (Vancouver Sun Education Reporter).  This was from a discussion on teacher pensions……..

“I was a teacher for years before I finally got enough confidence to leave. Best move I ever made…thanks.  Now, this is what we all know, but won’t admit:

“Most days, you can go in to schools at 4:30 and fire a cannon down the halls without fear of hitting a teacher. Many have to avoid the kids as they screech out of the schools at the end of the day in their cars, marking and prep automated by years of teaching the same garbage.

“I got out because I could not stand the grossly unprofessional behaviour of my so-called colleagues - gossiping in staff rooms about kids, resentful of having supervision duty, telling tales about parents, and so on … Truly disgusting.

“At the last school, they had counsellors, special ed people, administrators, and a legion of hangers-on that did very little in terms of helping kids to learn. The teachers were so demoralized that they, too, became bureaucratic and angry. They had thirty kids or more in every class, while the counsellors were - apparently - discussing things, and soaking up more coffee - the last one could not even remember the names of the kids. I never saw a kid really helped by the counsellors - have you? …

“Don’t tell me about hard-working teachers. I know of many who actually work at a second job - and take phone calls while teaching. And we all know the ones that should have quit a long time ago - but they plod their weary way on, hogging a pay cheque, until forced to retire. Are some good? Absolutely. Are many poor and lazy? Yup.

This is what is called anecdotal evidence. It involves the impressions of one person. We don’t even know if it is true.

Of course all teachers resent supervision duty. It is an imposition of unprofessional duties.

Classes over 30 sounds like a problem. Better lower them. Too many guidance teachers? Management decision. Teacher ask every year to put more of them in the classroom. Management fights to keep them in guidance.

Now I ask you this? I consider this posting by Tunya to be teacher bashing. I know most teachers would as well. Who is right, Tunya or me?
.

Who is right about what?  If it’s teacher bashing?
If that’s the question, I would say, yep, it is.

The defence rests….

THE SYSTEM MAKES IT SO

Most of my blog comments here in BC, when I talk about teachers, I make it very clear that my criticisms are mainly about the system or teacher union dominance.  I do not have much grief with individual, average, everyday teachers.  In fact, I have great sympathy and respect for these everyday teachers as they are caught in terrible binds and dilemmas.  Most would like to concentrate on the job of teaching students but are too often diverted by too many bosses. 

Now, when these teachers express frustration or criticism of their unpleasant circumstances, is that “teacher bashing”? No, it’s the system that they’re complaining about.

By my bringing forward this ex-teacher’s Point-of-View, Doug Little now calls me a teacher-basher.  I reject that label, Doug!  Just by revealing this ex-teacher’s POV, does that make me a teacher-basher?

And, furthermore, we should really look at your “teacher-bashing on steroids” long list.  Aren’t most of those issues the unions’ causes – their narrow self-interest! Isn’t the teacher union movement one big juggernaut—a massive inexorable force that crushes everything in its way?

I quoted this POV to show that teachers also have complaints similar to those of parents and citizens. Just because he was critical doesn’t mean he too is to be labeled (and dismissed) as a teacher basher.  Listen to what he’s saying.

When you label someone too quickly it means you haven’t taken the time to listen. “Whew! He/she is just a teacher-basher!” Then walk away. That is NOT engaging in dialogue or dialectics.  That is NOT problem-solving!

Remember the Globe and Mail story:  Should Canada Offer Merit Pay to Teachers? (Feb 05, 2010).  There are 315 comments, all interesting and very helpful in understanding the issues.  I remember reading them all and found one comment that really stood out which capsulated the issues perfectly.  I was not the only one that found this ex-teacher’s comment worthy.  It is one of the 10 receiving the most thumbs up!  Here it is in full:

“EBToo     2/5/2010 10:01:19 PM  
As a retired teacher with 38 years of experience, I tend to favor merit “pay” but I doubt that the real issue for “great” teachers is getting paid more money or benefits. The real issue is professional freedom from unions, administrators, and politicians (such as school board members). Such persons usually have their own (often political) agendas and reward and punish teachers according to whether or not they conform to those agendas. Yes, reward great teachers. The best reward, however, is more likely to be more professional freedom from unions, politicians and administrators who treat teachers as if they were mere puppets on the strings of their “management” agendas.”

Doug:  Read the last sentence again.  Note how this retired teacher (38 years experience) summarizes.  He says the best reward for teachers would be to have “more professional freedom from unions, politicians and administrators…”

We are all suffering – students and parents and teachers and citizens—from this SYSTEM, this apparatus, this monopoly government regulated and teacher union dominated model.

Stop gloating, Doug.  You think you’ve won some big Victory by calling me a “teacher-basher”!

I have seen your site Tunya. Praise for the Tea Party Movement says Cashew Coalition to me right off the top. Once again one single individual is quoted. One opinion, ONE. Can it get mor anecdotal than that. You would be laughed out of policy making circles of the right left or centre. We know of your blog in BC. It makes this one look , well, liberal. Yikes. When you want to show teachers POV, you might want to have more than one.

Anti-union positions are considered to be anti-teacher positions in the profession BTW. Unions are protected and endorsed by the United Nations and recently their rights have been confirmed by the Supreme Court that has upheld the idea that governments cannot pass laws any more that abrogate teacher contracts. The Social Contract in Ontario would be illegal if tried again anywhere in Canada.

Tunya, have you and Bev met? You are both way out there. Bev thinks you are a teacher basher. You 2 should do lunch.

Can We Count?

Which of my FOUR sites are you talking about?  Which one is it that makes SQE’s Food for Thought blog look “liberal”?

How often do you come to BC to do your work anyway?

Now, about counting, 1 + 1 = 2.

I brought forward TWO teachers’ POV’s. 

The first was the ex-teacher I mentioned in “Teachers Bash Their Own” who talked about teachers’ unprofessional behavior, “telling tales about parents” etc.

The second POV I brought in was the retired teacher who commented on the Globe and Mail article about merit pay and who wished unions, trustees and administrators would get out of the way of teachers doing their work.

You’re quick and judgmental! At least admit I used TWO instances of teachers being critical, not ONE!

Ya 2 altogether. I’m sure if you look very hard you will find even 3 teachers opinions who support you but on the site you frequent in BC people actually say things like “the teachers don’t want good methods because they want the kids to fail to justify smaller classes. You don’t just have to be right wing to believe stuff like that you have to be crazy. The Schools We Need is the site and boy is it out there. I hear the Twilight Zone theme starting do do, do do, do do, do do…

I’m in BC now and have been since Jan 15. I go back to Ontario March 9th just after an appearance at the BCTF Convention. See you there, LOL.

Hello Tunya,
Sorry about the missunderstanding, which I’m to blame for—
Yes, I said that you were teacher bashing, but I was being sarcastic.
As I had said in my earlier blog:  the unions are controlling our educational system, but they can’t control how people see teachers nowadays, and there are many of us who are not happy with their bad attitudes, and apparent lack of caring of our children whom we’ve entrusted to teach. 
I appreciate your dedication and hard work, but with all due respect, Tunya, to me teachers aren’t victims.  When they vote for a strike, it’s almost always close to 100% of the members voting in favour.  I recall a ridiculous strike (one of many) here in Lambton County, where the teachers remained on the picket lines for another three weeks for 2 minutes more prep time/day. 
I fully respect your opinions, however to me, teachers’ actions show that almost 100%  of them fully support their unions.

Actually Doug, if anyone should “do lunch” it’s you and Tunya. You let it slip over at Sandy Crux’s blog that you were on vacation in Big, Beautiful, British Columbia.

Don’t confuse the issue with basic math Tunya, in Ontario these basic math isn’t something we’re familiar with.

I don’t believe Doug’s here or at any of the other education blogs(he hasn’t found them all thankfully) is here to listen or respect anyone’s point of view but his own.

The teachers over at the Mended blog aren’t letting him get away with half the comments he’s making here. It’s quite refreshing but sad all at once.

Sounds like teacher bashing to me Bev.

Yep, does to me too, Doug.
(Darn—I’ll have to go over again Malkin’s pointers on how not to sound like a teacher basher…)

Yes, Parents, Let’s Do Lunch …  (part 1)

Thanks for your response, Bev.  I knew you were being sarcastic and that you were not calling me a teacher-basher as such.  Doug has a habit of jumping to conclusions.  Will look for him at BCTF AGM – coffee?

But, he is right.  We should do lunch.  And a whole host of other parents as well.  We can do “lunch”, so to speak, on the Internet.  Let’s.  We’ll find a way, whether it’s through SQE or some other means.

I think we’ve got this rabid dog (teacher union dominance) by the very tip of the tail.  Let’s hold on to that tip without getting any of the toxic lather on our vulnerable bodies or minds.  The future of our children depends on a few knowledgeable persistent people holding onto that grip, like a wolverine – never let go!

Now, back to the topic.  Should we separate out aeiou teachers from their unions?  Yes, I say.  By “aeiou” I mean Average, Everyday, Individual, Ordinary, Unique teachers.  You can find other definitions, but I do emphasize the positive, well-meaning features of so many teachers (as people) I know.

I don’t believe they are victims of their unions though victimhood as a concept does apply.  A person who is tricked or swindled.

Rather, I feel they are followers and that they are shaped, molded, and coerced by their union leaders to be obedient to their direction.  There is a union steward in every school—a Social Justice Committee in every local. They have phone trees, twitters, list-serves, emails, technological whiz-bangs you wouldn’t believe.  They’ve got the bucks for the latest gizmo’s.  The number of staff at HQ is overwhelming!

The relationship is very strong but you have it upside down. The union is shaped by the overwhelming member opinion.

Yes, Parents, Let’s Do Lunch!  …  (part 2)

Remember the stories of the Cultural Revolution in China when every block had it’s “granny” who knew everything – who was pregnant, who had mahogany furniture, every family’s class background. The “granny” was the eyes, ears and spy for the Central Committee.

Read:  Red Scarf Girl: Memoir of the Cultural Revolution. (1 cent or more from Abe or Amazon)  A quick read.  I promise you’ll never be the same again!  See 77 Reviews here
http://www.amazon.ca/product-reviews/0064462080/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Books on powerlessness describe how unions maintain power over their members.  They disempower members to remain passive recipients of union-negotiated benefits. They are socialized to believe a strong union is what protects them.  They are galvanized to periodic shows of loyalty and displays of strength by manufactured and scripted campaigns – anti testing, anti independent schools, anti-school-based-management, class-size issues, etc.  A good unionist must show some activism to maintain solidarity and qualify for protection.  It is this engineering of contrived “powerlessness” that makes teachers as union members to behave like sheep. “Trouble-makers” are dealt with.

So, Bev, let’s examine this 100% teacher union support you mention.  How much of it is deliberately molded?
I think you and I are both right. It’s just the analysis that needs to fit.  You say it’s all teachers. I say separate out the ingredients.  I see a distinct two tier system of teacher unionism.  Certainly applies here in BC!

The elite rules, the followers follow.  I still see the aeiou teacher as having some hope in education. We’ll always need teachers, but not necessarily the teacher unions.  The elite? I see no hope for their usefulness in education.  They have their own agenda!

Can you imagine anywhere else on the planet other than in BC that there would be a two-year Masters Program in Teacher Unionism?  We have it here at Simon Fraser University!

What a can of worms this topic of “teaching disability” has opened!

Doug:

You completely overwhelm me!

It took me 5 minutes to load my second part of my comment, but Lo, and Behold! there’s Doug Little sandwiched in ALREADY!!!!!!

We must meet!

I’d like to see this “gizmo” you’re wired to that gives you such instant responses! 

If we had an emergency, would you be a First Responder?  Remember, BC is projected for an earthquake soon.  It’s not a matter of IF, but WHEN.

Anyway, seriously, I hope people on this blog can get back to the issues of this thread, not our personal dalliances.

Tunya

My friends teach the SFU program, why not?

Management is so stupid, every time the contract is up for renewal, they table a long series of “strips” (takeaways). This infuriates the members who are so spitting angry they easily vote in favour of a strike because they realize that, without the union their standard of living would drop overnight.

Every teacher union member knows who brings home the bacon. That is where the loyalty goes.

It is called a Blackberry Tunya.

Regarding the elementary teachers, the most striking thing, “the cultural shock” for somebody new to Canada is that the majority of elementary teachers have little subject matter expertise and feel that they can pick and choose what to teach and how to teach.
... And that the teachers consider this situation to be normal.

My son had a grade one teacher that was not aware of all the 42 sounds in the english language and that did not teach the correct letter formation left to right, top-to-bottom in grade 1. She did not correct spelling.
My neighbour had a sports-related degree and a teacher’s degree and was teaching not phys-ed, but grade 6 english. I asked her how she felt about it and her answer was that it was very exciting because it was the very first time she had to teach english and she was having fun trying to come up with materials. When I asked her which part of grammar was taught in grade 6 she said she doesn’t know exactly but she’ll see and decide later what, if anything she wants to do for grammar.

I’ve talked to a teacher unhappy she had to teach grade 5 math because she was not good at math and she never liked math anyway ?!?

The belief that somebody can teach without knowing the subject and liking the subject and do a good job at it is, in my opinion, highly destructive.

Yes, being a good teacher is more than subject matter expertise. However subject matter expertise is a must.
That’s why I think teachers should be tested at least in their knowledge of the subject they teach.
If the teachers are good I don’t understand why this seems to be such an outrageous demand for them.

Most professions have such testing or exams.
Sure, parts of any exam may be a bit artificial and maybe on a bad day somebody would not score 100%, but if that person knows what they are doing they should at least pass.

The above seems to apply mostly to young teacher and a lot less to older teachers.
My explanation is that probably the older teachers were still taught in a - more - traditional way and therefore they have more knowledge, structure and discipline.

The common sense of the last Europe e mail is sadly accurate and logical-we are all dumbfounded at what goes
on.

The assumption has been for many years, that ES content is so easy that all that is necessary is pedagogical training for teachers. After all, what adult with a BA and a year of teacher training, does not know that 2+2=4? When you get to grade 7-8 there is some content knowledge involved but the system does allow a little rotary as teachers specialize a bit. In HS of course there is even more specialization but not as much as you might think.

My wife is Chinese and grew up in HK. When I ask her why Asians are better at math she says, apart from the steriotype, many countries are good at math, from grade 2 onwards they had a math specialist teach them. They did not move the teachers moved. This way no time was “stolen” from math and the teachers loved their work and conveyed that enthusiasm to the kids. Of course this does not explain the whole reason but it helps.

I actually support this direction. BTW, the countries with the most success often have the teachers in front of the class the fewest hours per year. The reverse is also true with American teachers in front of a class the greatest # of hours with pathetic results.

A must read for education “reformers”

http://www.educationnews.org/educationnewstoday/62985.html

Mike Golstein in today`s Education News asked a rational and worthy question-is there no way of preparing our teachers the way we prepare our olympic athletes-after all,if they work for 30 years and teach 30 students annually-that is 900 human beings they will affect,quite an onerous thought…Here is what I believe in-I can see that preventing and giving teacher expertise are far more important than testing and understand why Dr.Ravitch changed her mind…

“Deliberate practice means (1) specific & technique-oriented, (2) high-repetition, and (3) paired with immediate feedback which includes telling the novice what to do.”

I teach teachers how to teach Reading as a process to all children as well as children at risk.I believe vehemently in the above quote and believe it is missing from the landscape of elementary education.Actually I know it is.

If you consider exposing the fact that teachers are horrendously under prepared for the classroom teacher bashing then so be it…I see it as University teacher preparation bashing.Teacher is the victim.

If there is a reason why some countries lead the pack and others are rapidly moving up it is teacher preparation. Just for a change of pace I will use the Finland, 2 master’s degrees, 3 years post BA graduate program as an example. We must demand higher levels of education,and higher levels of certification for beginning teachers.

Class size is also very important but also a clear second in most research.

Hello, Tunya…
Yes, we’ll figure out a way to do lunch.
Perhaps on skype…
What a pleasure it would be to meet so many hard-working people, who are dedicated to bettering children’s lives!
I don’t agree with 100% of your views, but I’m listening, and I shall read the book you recommended…

Parents Doing Lunch

Dear Bev:

I can’t wait.  I don’t know what skype is, but will look into it.  This new technology is perhaps the only way we’ll have to deal with Goliath—the usurper!

It would be a dreadful situation if we agreed totally!  That’s the beauty of education.  That’s why I love being with my grandchildren.  They’re always challenging me and themselves with the consequence that we are all better off and have advanced forward.

Too bad the education system does not welcome parents into constructive relations.  But what do you expect of usurpers?  They are defensive, arrogant and being guilty they work pre-emptively to forestall parents from using their rights or even from knowing their rights.

Please see my comment just posted about Ravitch’s new book.

If people have ideas about Internet get-to-gethers, let us know how this can be done.  We’ll have to discuss and negotiate privately before issuing any joint statements or manifestos.

Best, Tunya