Older Teachers

One of the hard parts of being an older teacher is to not come off as cynical.  This is difficult, because the system is set up to make you look that way.

Have you ever seen a plumbline?  It is a weight on a string. You can push it out, and it will swing back.  It can swing out anywhere in 360 degrees, but the string limits how far it will go.

The swing back and forth represents education's move from this program to that program.  For folks who have been in education less than 10 years, that swing to the 45-degree mark looks "new".  They want to give it a go, because the 100% success rate they have been longing for was not achieved in the "old" program.

This is when it is hard being an older teacher.  I have seen that swing occur three times already, but nothing positive comes from me saying that.

I remember my first staff meeting clearly.  A new program was being introduced.  The seasoned teacher beside me sighed.  She leaned over and told me this was not going to bring the results the district trumpeted.  I didn't think she might have a point; I thought, "Y'know if you are not willing to try anything new... maybe you should retire."  To me, it was a shiny new bobble!  To her, it was an old one that had been polished up.

After 34 years, I know a program... is a program.  Some are a little better, some a little worse, but none are a magic bullet.  There are too many variables.  The biggest variable is the student.

Some students have an aptitude for a subject.  They go over the math facts a few times and they are understood.  Locked and loaded.  Others struggle, but they (and/or their parents) are willing to put in the study and practice to be successful.

Then you have the third group.  They struggle... and they have little interest in putting in any effort.  For the teacher, this is like being in a three-legged race and the student lies on the ground... sometimes pulling in the opposite direction.

That isn't to say that such a student is doomed to failure in life.  They may have dozens of talents, aptitudes, and interests... they just don't fall into academic categories.  I have seen many of these kids go on to wildly successful lives.  Schools just tend to be obsessive about academics.

All that to say, as an older teacher, I just find myself smiling and nodding a lot.

We Don't "Got This"

Things changed about 25 years ago. 

During district meetings, if a teacher brought up how we should be involving the family, district folks and admin started to say -

"Well, we can't control that, so let's talk about what we can control."

It was a subtle, but tectonic shift.

On the face, there was a certain logic to it. We can't control what families do, this is true.

However, the practical upshot was that families started to interpret this as... "Don't worry about educating your child, we got this."

But we don't.  We don't got this.

Over the years, more and more kids arrived at school without foundational pieces in place.  Joey could read Dr. Seuss but Jimmy didn't even know his letters.  Sally has been read to nightly since infancy, but Sarah never experienced a book until she came to kindergarten.

Reading proficiency rates dropped like a rock through a wet paper bag.  Fingers were pointed every which way.  It was the whole-language debacle!  Phonics will fix this!  We need better instructional practices!

Every solution has been tried (repeatedly) except the most obvious one.  

America and its schools need to communicate to parents that their involvement is pivotal.  It is not optional and we will not be ok without it.

We don't "got this."  

Parents do.  

Until that is the reality we face, we will continue to rearrange chairs on the Titanic.