Nevermind, November
I like to create titles for each month: Awful August, Snarky September, Obnoxious October. These titles correspond to how I feel about public education. Don't get me wrong, I love teaching. I love my students, (and I don't say that just because they stalk me and found this blog... hiya, 8th block!) they get me up in the morning, they soak up learning, they prank me, they teach me, and they make me laugh. It's the extra crap I loathe.
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| Senior Prankery last May |
I'm so disheartened when people don't support teachers, either financially or emotionally. I'm disheartened when I bust my butt planning and grading and instructing and then 10 other tasks are added to my already full plate. Let's just set the record straight, teachers work hard, and so do counselors, custodians, kitchen staff, paraprofessionals, and yes, even administrators. But in that hard work, we seem disparate and defensive. We seem to be working towards different goals. We end up being REactive instead of PROactive. We do this mostly because we are afraid. I fear for my job, and I fear for the jobs of others who help me do my job. I fear bigger class sizes and higher expectations. Listen, if I have to teach 190 students, how do you expect me to grade papers, give them good feedback and make the learning valid and authentic. I'm not a highly paid babysitter. And the problem with policy and bureaucracy and mandates is that I'm treated like a babysitter, but also expected to raise standardized test scores at the same time. Enough.
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” --Eleanor Roosevelt
My friend Matt was telling me about Stephen R. Covey last night. I looked it up today because it stuck in my head last night. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People makes sense for education. One of the habits, "put first things first" is especially poignant in this discussion. If we spend our time in public education dealing with the policies we have in place instead of new policies we feel will work better, then I think we might be more productive, we might even spend money more efficiently. True, there isn't a panacea for the problems of public education. But the remedies are already here, they just aren't being used.
1 comment:
I think it is the expectations the public has for teachers. Most people don't expect a dentist to keep our teeth free of cavities and gum disease. The patient has to practice good oral hygiene at home to have healthy teeth. However, many do expect teachers to make students motivated and smart, and the students do not need to do a thing to reach this goal. I think the question we need to ask is why does the public see teachers this way. Why aren't teachers treated the same way we treat a dentist or a doctor? Why does the public have such unrealistic expectations of teachers?
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