Teachers and Learning

Why is it that some teachers think that once they have entered the classroom, they know it all? I can't stand this. Everyday when I work with kids and in education, I realize how LITTLE I know and how much I have to learn. Yet, some people seem to think they are the epitome of teaching and learning and they have it all "figured out".

I once heard a presenter say, "Would you go to a dentist who had been using the same drill for 30 years?" Of course, our answer is "NO WAY!" Yet, we have teachers who have been using the same lesson plans for just about that long.

It's a new day in education. There is accountability that is beyond what any of us have experienced. I now have to send in an accounting of my daily activity (hour by hour) to the state department of education. This is because of the type of job I hold, not because I am a teacher.

When I started teaching 19 years ago, we had to turn in lesson plans "occasionally"...now we are telling teachers what elements must be present in their lesson plans. The "little boxes" that we used to write in simply aren't enough. It's not OK to be a page turner anymore. Page turning (doing the next lesson because it is "next") is for those teachers who DON'T know their kids. We have to teach KIDS and not programs! The "I-know-it-all" people that I know...teach programs. They really are not about kids.

I know that the accountability is about kids (even though some of my colleagues may disagree). If I went to a dentist who had been using the same drill for 30 years, I could make the decision to not go there again. Our kids, however, cannot make such decisions. Parents can. But they don't always. Some kids end up biding time in a room with a page turner. It could be any year, any state, anyplace. It really has nothing to do with who is sitting in the chairs of our classrooms.

It's time for a change. It's time to hold "feet to fire" and NOT let up until every kid has a quality teacher who knows him or her as a person and a learner.

I've got to go to work now, it's time to fill those cavities!