My brother sent an email to let me know that I spelled "relevant" wrong in my blog about my dh on 8/15. He was right...and now it is fixed...along with the word "meaningful" which he didn't catch in his brief editing this afternoon.
As I fixed the word "relevant" I thought of how much I have been hearing it lately. Everytime I have a education conversation it seems that it comes up coupled with the word "rigor". This seems to be the new mantra in education. It requires that all teachers strive to make their instructional delivery both rigorous and relevant for all students.
This week in a conversation with a frustrated teacher, she noted that she didn't think she was being treated as a professional. She feels she is being asked to write down "every breath she is going to take" in her lesson plans. I reflected on this for a moment and tried to help her see that it is a new day in education.
I am now required to account for every hour in my day to the state department of education each week. I have not once thought that this meant I was not a professional. In fact, in many ways, it feels the opposite. They are valuing reading teachers right now and they want to make sure that our jobs help bring this rigor and relevance to the schools in which we work.
When we ask a teacher to document their instructional delivery and be accountable to it, I think kids win. In my own informal observations, it is often those that are mediocre at best who yell the loudest about this. Is accountability wrong? I don't think so. Will rigor and relevance happen without it? In most cases, no.
I guess it comes down to this----in my opinion:
accountability + rigor + relevance = professionalism
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