21st Century Education & Learning Environments & Life as an Educator 28 Nov 2005 05:48 am
Crushing the passion
In his most recent post Dave Warlick discusses the need for our schools to have teachers that are understanding of the fact that students need to learn to learn not learn to be taught. I felt it fit to share my story so far with him, his readers and mine. I feel it is an interesting insight into why teachers are leaving the classroom disheartened or are simply allowing their passion for innovative classroom teaching to diminish. So here is my story and some thoughts on my move out of the classroom only after 4 years of teaching.
I finished high school in 1997 went straight to college and graduated 4 years later. I was offered a job 3 months before I graduated in a very popular area in my state and had many other job offers before graduating. I was told this was due to the lack of young male role models for our students in today’s society. I later found that it was probably more due to the fact that schools are seeing young graduates as keen and willing to do whatever it takes. Over the past 4 years I have become somewhat of a very popular teacher at my school, with parents always requesting their students to be in my class. I do the job well and I am regarded highly by my peers. (Apologies for the self-flattery)
On Friday I finish my 4th year at the same school and I will not be returning next year. I am taking up a position as an educational manager in a company that will be producing curriculum programs for schools in the area of Math, Science, Technology and Music.
The question that I wish to explore that may just add some thought to Dave’s post today is….. “Why would someone leave the classroom so early in their teaching career if they are seemingly doing a good job?”
I have struggled with this over the past few months. I believe that it has come down to some very simple facts.
1) There is no recognition for what I do until the end of the year when a parent says thank you for a great year – Or until I leave and expressions of regret from the school community are shared.
2) School’s are not handling the how and what of teaching students…. Those who make decisions are not teachers; they are administrators who may have been teachers many years ago. Yet in fairness to them, much of the time they are just demonstrating a knee jerk reaction to what the bureaucrats of education departments are feeding and demanding of them.
3) Joy of teaching is lost when teachers are expected to conform to regimented systems. I have slowly seen my passion for the classroom diminish as the expectations of school leadership have increased in areas such as assessment. The increase in demands from administration to assess and demonstrate student levels is getting out of control. I don’t blame my principal for this, he is simply responding to the demands of a Government that likes to think that being able to place every student in one of 4 or so boxes/categories is what our education system needs.
When I look over the complements I received from parents I cannot help but notice that most parents are grateful for the way I encouraged their student to think and find joy in learning. Many parents have shared with me that, their desire for their children is not straight ‘A’ results in their exams, rather a young man or women that can think for themselves and have a passion and value of learning, for it is these skills that many parents can see are vital for the society their children are growing up into. My frustration with the classroom stems from this very point, my passion for encouraging these skills is very quickly squashed due to a lack of time once we have satisfied all state or government requirements.
I am in the middle of reading “The world is flat” by Thomas Freedman and I must say that we need to understand that it is mostly the people who are adaptive that will succeed in this world and we therefore as educators need programs that will facilitate these needs.
Thomas Freedman says, in The World is Flat, that there are four kinds of people who will prosper in a flattening world. People who are:
Special — Michael Jordon, Robert Redford, Katherine Hepburn
Specialized — Know things or can do things that others can’t
Adaptive — able to learn and relearn easily and quickly
Anchored — direct services
From my short experience I noticed that my school did a very good job at looking after the students that had the potential to be in the “Special” category but it probably fails in the other 3. Most importantly, I believe that we need to make sure that schools get the skills for adaptive learning right. I could only wish that I were freed up to be a teacher who could help students become more adaptive.
on 28 Nov 2005 at 7:16 pm 1.Graham Wegner said …
Brett, motivation is a key factor in any job satisfaction. Being a fellow Aussie, I hear you when you talk about the top down expectations involved in education today. And it is the younger teachers like yourself who are the ones who will be adaptive and take other job opportunities instead of “sticking it out” like a lot of Baby Boomer teachers who are terrified of the unemployment scrapheap. Unfortunately teachers my age and older (I’m 39) are letting their creativity and spark be gradually strangled rather than risk walking away from such a secure career. And this another area where we (the profession) are becoming more out of touch with the kids we teach.
on 29 Nov 2005 at 3:11 am 2.David Warlick said …
Brett,
This is a very sad, but no uncommon story. I believe that most teachers, like you, know how to measure success. We’ve done it for decades. And I agree with you that most parents are not nearly as interested in seeing numbers, as they are in watching their children grow.
The best measure of my success as a teacher came when parents said to me, “My son, nearly every day, comes home talking about what he learned in Mr. Warlicks class today.” I might be a romantic when it comes to teaching, but when children leave my classroom continuting to talk about what they are learning, then those are students who will be a life-long learners.
on 29 Nov 2005 at 3:14 am 3.2 Cents Worth » “Crushing the Passion” said …
[...] through the blogosphere. I’ll point you to his latest blog entry, and say no more! http://blog.brettmoller.com/?p=67
No Comments » No comme [...]
on 29 Nov 2005 at 3:21 am 4.Marco Polo said …
Brett,
thanks for telling your story. It seems to make it clear that neither teachers nor students, nor even students’ parents, are in charge of what happens in schools and in class. You have been crushed by a system of organized education, a juggernaut that no-one can stop. Gatto suggests that the problem is the juggernaut, or more specifically the way of thinking that a) came up with the idea of the juggernaut (tho of course it wasn’t that in their imaginations at the time), and b) that maintains the juggernaut (the thinking that says we need organized education).
I would be very interested to hear your thoughts on Gatto’s analysis, if you ever get around to reading it.
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com
on 29 Nov 2005 at 12:51 pm 5.Laura said …
Some of the same kind of squelching is going on in my world at a small liberal arts college. The majority of the faculty here are older, not interested in changing the way they teach and are terrified by even the simplest of technological innovations. When I try to do more outreach, I am told not to because “people just don’t want that.” I’m thinking then why the hell did you hire me.
I’m also a parent and thankfully, the love of learning hasn’t been completely squashed in my own kid. But I’m constantly frustrated by the teacher’s focus on neatness, tests, and other superficial measures of learning.
on 29 Nov 2005 at 1:42 pm 6.Jose Rodriguez said …
Your entry is paints a very realistic picture of education today. I am going back the classroom after four years working in administrative support (student testing / NCLB documentation, etc. ) This is my 10th year in education and I am looking forward to the challanges posed by teaching in the 21st century. I do agree that teaching involves learning to learn rather than the specific content for the grade level. Good luck!!!
on 29 Nov 2005 at 11:47 pm 7.Whakarongo - Korero » Lets Publish. said …
[...] gs. Lesson Outline Introduction: What is a blog? Examples of Blogs – Teachers Blogs 21st Century Educator David Warlick Barbara Ganley Sharing Thoughts and Ideas. Google Blog Search Student [...]
on 12 Dec 2005 at 12:14 pm 8.David Ross said …
Just stumbled across this as I play with RSS feeds & such. I echo your sentiments. A former junior-high math instructor and junior-college computer science instructor, I found that being very good at teaching was simply not rewarding enough (materially or otherwise) to merit a lifetime of effort.
I went computer network administration for a number of years, then course development for a software company, and find myself ‘full circle’ with a major company doing skills development for technical employees. Sad that energy such as yours, mine, and many others cannot be well rewarded when directed at the potentially most valuable constituents – young students.
on 19 Dec 2005 at 4:43 am 9.Teaching Generation Z » E- Portfolio Professional Learning Conference said …
[...] teaching based on encouragement from one of his teachers. Couldn’t help but think of Brett’s recent post where he is moving away from classroom teaching. The next speaker is Janette Ellis, f [...]