As a veteran teacher, although hard to believe, I felt compelled to start a new blog and maybe even a movement in education. Over the past 22 years, I have been witness to many wonderfully devoted teachers who inspire learning and passion within their students. They are caring and parent-like. They listen to children and treat them as though they matter. They can often be found eating lunch in the cafeteria, playing on the play grounds, sitting on the floors of classrooms sharing stories, staying after school to help a child in need, sharing food with a student who forgot a lunch, buying classroom resources with their own money, laughing and crying with students when they need someone, counseling beyond their call of duty, attending extracurricular events just because they care, inviting parents to participate in learning, creating fun learning experiences, trying something new even when it's fearful, and going the extra mile simply because they are devoted to their students and profession. There is no extra pay or merit in this, these teachers do it out of the truest form of passion and love. If you are one of these teachers, please share your stories here!
We need you to help lead this movement. It is time to start telling the policy makers to stop pointing the finger at us and to begin finding the root cause of our failing system. It is not the fault of teachers!! The fault should be placed on a terribly outdated and ill-funded system that will only continue to fail until our lawmakers figure out that true success can not be measured by Math and Reading scores alone! We need to measure the dedication of teachers and focus on all that is right inside our schools today. Let our voices be heard! We do have the power to change a bureaucratic system that is so broken by the politics of our society.
I am not saying that there aren't bad teachers out there. I have seen and worked with plenty over the years. Some even became horrible administrators. The problem with our system lies in how we are evaluated or measured. A brief visit from a principal once a year is not enough, student test scores are not enough, popularity contests are not effective, so what do we do? It's time for all teachers as professionals to reflect and begin asking ourselves the tough questions. Am I making a difference in these students' lives? How can I do more, or do the best with what I have? Do I inspire them to learn? Do I model passion in my daily routines? Do I listen to them and value their input? Do we have fun in class while learning? Are they happy to be here? Are we a team? Do I contribute to their successes or failures? Are they growing socially and emotionally?
Pay attention friends, ask your students to honestly give you feedback. They will respect you for allowing them an opportunity to help you grow and become a better professional. If you allow them to share their ideas and opinions with constructive feedback, they will be more apt to listening to you when you give them yours.
It's high time to begin acting like the professionals that we are or aspire to one day become. There really aren't any excuses for bad teaching. Tests, standards, common curriculum, administrators etc. don't cause poor teaching the lack of commitment, integrity and hard work does. I have worked with teachers in the poorest of districts and there are some amazing teachers who continue to learn and inspire others to do the same! Those creative, smiling, passionate educators who teach and inspire children to become quality well rounded citizens need to take a stand and say STOP blaming us! We are not the problem. We are not going to take it anymore!
Take the pledge today to begin a new decade of inspired educational leadership and devotion to our children, our future!
If this post moved you, please respond! We need your input to begin a new decade of educational reform. A movement that is lead by the dedicated passionate teachers, not the politicians with agendas other than children!
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