(a little bit of a rambling monologue...deal with it)
Sorry if you like sappy go teacher(!) movies. They make me want to barf. Today we had to go to some professional development crap (see previoius post) and the I swear the speaker watched all those movies as prep work.
Let's just get something straight. A kid that comes to me who hasn't eaten breakfast, has on dirty clothes, barely slept last night, with all kinds of family and emotional issues is not NOT going to do fantastic in school because I love/care for him. I can love you all day long, care about you more than anything, but that is NOT going to make you smart. LEARNING will make you smart(er).
Yes, caring is important. I don't get why you would show up every day if you don't care. It is waaay too much of an emotional investment not to care. BUT, caring does not solve all problems and I am really sick of being told that it will. It also bothers me that they think someone is sitting in the audience with a lightbulb (ding!) over their head, "OH! It's because I need to CARE! Finally! The answer!" If you care, you care; if you don't, somebody telling you to isn't going to change anything.
Some guy wrote a really awesome article for the New York Times about that once. I would go to the trouble of finding it, but you have to pay to read it and who wants to do that. Basically, he was saying that all those movies make it seem like all good teachers are a martyr to the cause of teaching. They give up personal lives, they pour all their money back into the classroom, they do nothing but teach, grade and plan. Well, sorry, that's not real life. There are teachers like that, but I ain't one of 'em. And I don't think that makes me a bad teacher.
Those movies also make it seem like the Michelle Pheiffer/Hilary Swank whoever is the only one who is REALLY DEDICATED to the kids and everyone else hates them and thinks they're stupid. Now, maybe I've just been really lucky but I know a whole lot of teachers that do a damn good job. There are the crappy ones, but there's crappy people everywhere, why would the teaching profession be different?
The speaker today told us that the reason for the achievement gap is teacher expectation. OHHKAY. Not poverty, family values, access to materials and resources, lack of nutrition, unsafe neighborhoods and schools etc.,.....no, how I feel about them determines whether or not they succeed.
Again I feel compelled to ask the question, Am I a superhero for being able to solve all the world's problems by simply altering my state of mind or am I too stupid to even write my own lesson plans or come up with my own ideas for teaching?
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2 comments:
amen. It's so tough to get around all the higher-ups shoving that down our throats sometimes...How's your student in the hospital doing?
Okay, so I totally get what you're saying... but I don't get how telling you to care would even count as professional development. If it's supposed to make the kids geniuses, how is that developing you? It certainly wouldn't mean that you would teach differently. Those people running your school are crazy. Keep it coming!
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