The first week of school is done. My team teacher and I would look at each other at the end of every day and both say, "When can we just get to the academics!?!" Of course the team building, routines and teaching of class and school expectations are vital to the success of the entire year. But there comes a point in time when I just want to teach. Not that we haven't been breaking our backs and teaching the entire week, but I want to give the students some knowledge that they don't already have, make their brains wrap around a new concept that challenges them and makes them ask, "Why?" I just want to teach.
But when I do finally get into the meat and the heart of what I want to teach my students (watch out, we start on Monday!), do I really get to do that? Do I have the authority to pick and chose what I want to focus on for the year? No. Simple as that. I do not have the authority to pick and choose what knowledge I want to give to my fourth graders that satisfies my opinion of what an "education" can and should be. So, who does have that authority? Good question. I'm looking for that answer too.
There used to be a time when teachers did have a choice. A veteran teacher in my school often reminisces about a time when she got to pick every topic that her students learned about in Science, Social Studies, Reading and Writing. What ever a teacher was passionate about, he/she got to teach it. Math was another story; she taught whatever was in the Math text book, but I digress, she still had choice. It all rested with her. What a novel idea! Being able to teach what one is passionate about! Isn't that what professionals who specialize in active and engaged learning preach? As educators we have a responsibility to find out what our students are passionate about and then help them question, research, dive in until they are an expert? But, we have a slight kink in the system.
Enter in parents, as proved in Nomi Stolzenberg's article, "He Drew a Circle that Shut Me Out" (Stolzenberg, 1993). Now don't get me wrong, as a parent myself, I do feel that I should have some say in what my children learn. I have my own personal beliefs in what skills I think my children should acquire by going to school. But because I am also a teacher, it gets a little complex. Yes, I want to have some say, but I also know that the perception of teachers still teaching what ever they want to is not what it seems. When teachers instruct, they may be focusing on a topic but the life-long learning skills underlying are what is not always evident to parents (or politicians for that matter, but don't even get me started on them). When parents removed their children from a class and school system because the text students were being required to read were exposing them to perspectives and attitudes that parents were not happy with, in my opinion, what the parents may not have realized is that the teachers were not focusing on a topic but how to be a better reader (Stolzenberg, 1993, p. 584). The texts being used were just a tool for learning.
Enter in the recent legislature change in Texas where they actually changed what history is being taught (McKinley, 2010). The question of who has the authority to change relies in the hands of the government (MSNBC, 2010). That is what is happening in my district and the nation as we speak. As all the states (except Texas, ironically) transition to the Common Core State Standards (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2012) we have even less say in what we teach. The group of governors, teachers and administrators who created the goals are not mandated by the federal government but are "committed to developing a long-term governance structure with leadership from governors, chief state school officers, and other state policy makers" (CCSSI, 2012). Forgive me if I am wrong, but aren't those all in some way connected to the federal government?
The one way we do have a say in what we teach is how we teach it. What instructional methods, what technology to incorporate, what ways we actively engage, etc. I was going to say by what literacy text choices we make, but that may get me in trouble with some families. This all raises the question of who does have the authority to pick what students learn. Is there a right answer? Should we solely let the teachers choose? We did in one point in time. Should we let the government, whether on a state or federal level, guide us in what expectations to have? We are right now. Has either choice been the best for the students?
I am not sure of the answer. Right now I am just going to continue to teach what I am being told to teach and I am going to instruct using the strategies that I know from experience students learn best by. May I sneak a little of my own passion into the classroom? Probably. But for now, I think I will just go back to my Core Curriculum Math guide and try to figure out what it is that they want me to teach. On Monday.
I like your point about the importance of passion to teacher efficacy. I guess you don't say that in so many words, but I take it this is one thing you are trying to say. Teachers do a better job when they have sufficient freedom to teach to their passion. I'm unsure whether to agree with you however that the Common Core State Standards will reduce teacher autonomy though. In the sciences anyway, one feature of some standards documents is that they actually reduce the content teachers must address and highlight a handful of skills they are to foster. This seems like it should create more freedom.
ReplyDeleteOne minor quibble that bears mention: I disagree that the Hawkins County texts were arbitrary and merely intended to enhance students' reading skills. It seems evident from what Stolzenberg says about them that they were also intended to expose students to religious diversity and to foster an attitude of tolerance and openness to religious difference. I also think that this is a valuable content lesson that should be preserved, and so would not endorse a mechanism for curricular design that would threaten it. I would also argue that the same could be said for many other content items, such as the theory of natural selection, atomic theory, Copernican cosmology, the fact that the Nazis murdered about 6 million Jews and 5 million other people for racist reasons, and many other things. Okay, maybe this isn't such a minor quibble and I'll stop now!