LitBlog
Just a LIT-tle bit about everything... education, travel, books... and whatever else strikes my interests.
A teacher affects eternity, he can never tell where his influence stops. - Henry Adams Teach the standards, but don't teach to the test. Differentiate based on learning styles, and students abilities, and don't forget to serve your IEP, 504, and TAG students. Make sure your students demonstrate growth, don't forget about your SLO. Make sure you have enough grades before the interim, you've got lunch duty this week, we've scheduled a faculty meeting today immediately after school so cancel your student's tutoring session, oh, and by the way that child's parent called again wanting you to explain why you haven't graded the presnetations from last week and how exactly do your grades work again? Lesson plans were submitted late and we've decided to hold a PLC during your planning period, so make sure you bring your fully charged laptop and your class roster. Teachers hear these statements on a daily basis. All the while they are supposed to spend as many hours planning their lessons as they do teaching them. They are held to sometimes unattainable expectations set by people who have no idea what goes on in a classroom and haven't sat in one in decades, with less than adequate resources, too many students, and required to make magic happen. With everything stacked against them, miracles happen. Teachers develop relationships with students whose parents aren't around to teach them the values of education. Teachers help children who read multiple grades below grade-level successful complete their grade-level book reports and create mobiles and conduct rigorous science experiments. Girls and boys are working together to create interactive digital creations, robots, and all manner of other things. All over the country teachers are joining the movement #Red4Ed to demand better funding, better pay, and respect. Funding schools means that we are doing the best for our children, we are shaping the way our future will look. Some teachers come in at 8 and leave at 4, but many more come in early and leave late. Teachers lead extracurriculars and coach sports because they love the kids, not for the extra money. The extra money helps, but it usually isn't the motivating factor. Teachers didn't go into teaching for the pay, they never expected to get rich, but they expect to be able to live. Sam Seaborn from West Wing said it best "Education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don't need little changes, we need gigantic, monumental changes. Schools should be palaces. The competition for the best teachers should be fierce. They should be making six figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge to its citizens, just like national defense. That's my position." Society doesn't treat education like the "silver bullet" and the best schools are in the wealthiest areas. Even students who attend the best schools still are shafted. They're taught that their grades will get them into a good college and they need to be well rounded and have extracurricular activities and community service and if they are not the best of the best of the best they may not get into their number 1 choice for college. The education system is about learning to pass a test and get "good grades" and not about growth, learning, and making a difference in the world we live in.
Individuals need to do better. Parents need to do better. Politicians need to do better. Society needs to do better. Stop assuming you know what teachers need. Ask a teacher, they'd love to tell you. If you don't have one handy right now, let me tell you a little bit about what teachers need.
Good teachers are leaving the profession because they can't make a living. Even more importantly, college students aren't pursuing teaching because they have been told not to. No education student should ever have to defend their decision to become a teacher. Teachers shouldn't have to constantly defend their careers because other professionals think they know what happens in the classroom. Current teachers are taking on extra classes because schools are so short on teachers, students are having to take classes online while a paraprofessional sits in the room to monitor their progress and make sure they do their work. Class sizes are increasing to alarming large numbers. 35-40 students in a classroom with 1 teacher is too many. We need a shift. It starts with you. Yes you, the one who is reading this. No matter who you are, you can make a difference. Thank a teacher, buy a few extra boxes of tissues and drop them off at a local school, encourage the neighbor kid who taught his sister how to ride a bike or do long division to think about becoming a teacher. Talk about education and what you want children to be able to do when they leave school, not what their grades were or if the schools' test scores surpassed the state scores. Volunteer at a local school. Even the local high schools could benefit from someone volunteering to stand on duty during lunch or help get kids on and off the busses. If you're really daring, take a class and become a substitute. Remember your children are the children sitting in the desks with the gum underneath, with the broken chair, without adequate books, or all manner of other issues teachers face on a regular basis. Teachers love your children as much as you do, we want to see them grow. We just want the resources we need to help them. Mrs. Lit 🔥
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AuthorJust a nerdy history teacher trying to share history and education with the world. #historynerd #edutechnerd #iloveSumterSCschools #ChangingLivesOneStudentAtATime Archives
July 2019
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