Another powerful day at the UNCCWP - I can't believe we've started our last week!
After two amazing demos - one on painting Image Grammar and making our writing come alive by painting pictures with words and one on writing circles and how to really make them work for our kids and for us - and a tasty lunch, we moved on to a discussion of the assessment pieces read over the weekend. The common thread that I kept hearing as we discussed our pieces as the authors in the jigsaw groups was that what we're doing now (or what we're prescribed to do by the testing corporations and the bureaucracies) doesn't work. While there may not be a total consensus on the best means to fix the "system", there does seem to be a consensus that it's broken. So why do we keep doing the same things over and over and again? (I believe it was Einstein who said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.)
My theory is that it all goes back to our rant from our beginning-of-the-day warm up. After our group rant, I once again noticed a common thread in the anger of the voices of these amazing teachers I've been gifted with spending the last week with: there is a marked lack of respect for the profession that they've given their time, money, energy, and hope to. And what's even more saddening (and angering) is that this lack of respect isn't just coming from people who are outside of the field and therefore don't recognize the depth of work, thought, and will we put into what we do every day for our kids, but from people within our very own fields. Colleagues, administrators, department heads, those we look to for support and, at times, commiseration, and maybe even protection from those outside forces that so oppose the profession of teaching, are sometimes the ones who are there with nothing but more negativity and browbeating.
So where are we to turn? What are we to do? Do we have a recourse? Or do we return to our little egg cartoon classroom, do what we can for the students we have, and say a prayer for the rest? Can we really be okay with that?
Or is it time for a revolution of teachers?
It is amazing that we are still discussing the issue of standardized testing. So sad! I think it is because teachers aren't allowed in on that debate by the people who decide :(
ReplyDeleteI really like Rebecca's question at the end of the ranting: So are we going to do anything about it? I think it starts with changing the competition and lack of respect between teachers, as you have emphasized above. I would really like to start something - I don't know what, but something - that starts to get teachers thinking about this issue and work on changing it! Anyone else interested?
ReplyDeleteMegan :) Great minds think alike! Wait for my demo on Thursday - that's exactly what we're going to try to do!
ReplyDeleteI am glad to see you posing this question, Dorry. It is something that I have worried about for a long time and the disrespect seems to be getting worse. I look forward to your demo and answers.
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