On The Weight of Teaching

I do some of my best writing in response to Facebook status updates. Maybe it's because the questions, statements, etc., are engaging and thought provoking, or maybe it's because I'm trying to avoid doing work connected with a current job and I put my best work into procrastinating...? Anyway, a friend of mine wrote today:


*climbs onto soapbox* With regard to NCLB and the general blame our country puts on teachers' shoulders: "It's simple arithmetic: (a) child spends 900 hours a year in school and 7,800 hours outside of school. Which teacher has the bigger influence? Where is more time available for change?" -Jim Trelease


I responded with the following:


In orientation for teaching, and our constant meetings throughout the year, officials from school and administration kept saying things like, "YOU are the most influential teacher in that child's life. Their education is YOUR responsibility." During these meetings some of us understandably looked around the room in a confused way. I don't know about everyone else, but I was wondering, "Really? Not the parents? And THEIR education is MY responsibility? Funny...as a STUDENT I was always told it was my responsibility and not the teacher's." I will save the details, but I have seen behavior from students, some members of administrators, and (more often than anyone else) parents that kept consistently putting the blame of a student's lack of progress squarely on the shoulders of teachers. Where is the first person responsibility of the student? Where are the parents who should be, if not taking more of an active part in their kids' education, saying their child simply needs to learn how to be a better student.

There are a lot of other factors at play here, what with the state of the economy, lack of families' abilities to spend quality time together, broken homes because of money issues (I've had a few like that already), developmental disorders, etc, but the main, number 1 problem is everyone wants to put the blame, the effort of lifting the load, and the actual learning (for some bizarre reason) onto the teacher. Not only is that not fair, it's an absurdity.

Also, the new administration has suggested some new policies that will take us away from the horrid stupidities of No Child Left Behind and toward some new methodologies...and some old and NEW challenges that squarely blame teachers. They still involve massive amounts of standardized tests and, consequently, simply teaching toward a test and not in hope of actually learning the principals behind a lesson. Something they have also suggested are individual lesson plans for each student. That's right, not just lesson plans for an entire class, but lesson plans thought out, written, and carried out for each-and-every student. And who is supposed to come up with these lesson plans? And write them? And spend extra time prepping for every last individual student with extra man hours like a strange sort of personal assistant?

The teacher.

Whether or not this is implemented is still in question. If it is, it is a step in the wrong direction. I think the idea of something like individual lesson plans is a nice idea of crafting lessons in order to work with each student from where he or she is coming to the work, in terms of ability to understand/comprehension, display learning, etc. As a theatre/acting teacher I'm well accustomed to working in this vein. I craft general lessons and work with students in implementing their own ways of working in creating actions, tactics, overall characters, scenes, and whole narratives this way. Sometimes the work can even implement their shortcomings or challenges as part of the process. That is, in essence, the work of an actor. It is a way of working that can be implemented into any and all subject areas, but not in the same way, and, frankly, I would not formally craft an individual lesson plan for each student in my field. Part of the way I teach, and a part of my pedagogy is putting the responsibility of learning squarely on the student's shoulders. I live by the a certain teaching philosophy that says, "It is my job to give you, and teach you how to use, the tools to succeed. As the student it is your decision as to whether or not you use them, or devise new ways to use them." I feel administrations (local, state, and federal) should turn back toward students and families and say, "What are YOU going to do?"