Discouraged, but persistent
I'm probably breaking a confidence, but I received this in an e-mail from my daughter yesterday:
I am looking forward to hearing from Paul's teacher at conferences. 5th grade seems to skew heavily toward doing things the teacher's way procedurally rather than actually learning anything or God forbid, making it interesting. Paul was all ready to bring his Vasco da Gama oral report alive with visuals and lots of fascinating tidbits about the "long and uncertain voyage" around the Horn of Africa when he came home and glumly reported, "No props. And we have to stick to the outline." This is the same teacher that feels diagramming sentences is possibly the most important skill children can learn. As baby Miles would say, "It hurts me." I am thankful for EL (extended learning, the G&T program). He's skyping with NASA scientists and building his own website to present his research comparing Australopithecus brains to modern humans'. I realize, in telling you this, that I am preaching to the choir.
Ironic that this came just a day or so after my little rant about the need to give creativity more importance in all school work. Obviously Paul's teacher didn't read my compelling suggestions. Nor did, I expect, 99.999% of the rest of practicing teachers. In my little pond, I am big frog, but it is a very, very small pond.
Yesterday I gave a workshop at AASL on assessing, planning and reporting for school library programs, attended by about 35 very involved, responsive and thoughtful librarians, library directors and state library consultants. Good people to be sure, but I would say they are librarians who came in already understanding the importance of these things if the profession is to thrive and survive.
I often wonder what percentage of educators read blogs and journals, attend conferences, and engage in other opportunities for growth and improving professional practice? And I wonder how that percentage compares to professionals in other fields like dentistry or accounting or engineering?
I took a lot of heat a few days ago when I suggested that parents should be able to select their children's own teachers with in a school, and those teachers whose classes don't fill be terminated. Would such a plan have prevented the obvious bad match between the type of teacher Paul has and the type of teacher my daughter wants Paul to have?
And while the likelihood of creating teacher choice in schools or reaching 100% of educators through writing or workshops, messages like the one from my daughter renew my dedication as well as frustrate me. I may lose the battle, but it won't be without a fight.