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Do we want to improve our kids?
Do we want to improve ourselves?
Whether you're a businessperson, a fry-cook, an accountant, a parent, or a teacher, we are all educators in our own right.
I once heard it said that the quality of a teacher preparation program does not make a difference insomuch as getting hired, teaching, and in terms of what you learn.
I entirely disagree.
Just as military service is mandated in some countries, I believe that teacher education service should be mandated for all. I have many reasons for this. I will not go into these reasons at this time except to say that such a restructuring of priorities in our country, in the world, would result in a completely changed culture; those in power, who wish to remain in power, do so through various modes, including the perpetuation of ignorance, and the permeation of opiates among the masses, such as reality television, or the idea that you need certain objects, materials, goods, resources, in order to be happy, whole, and complete within society. Much of it is just plain bullshit, in the end.
I digress. Insomuch that a society exists as a result of its culture, its culture, a reflection of any given society's core values, exists because of education, in turn. At length, our society in America has gone to shit in many ways. I won't provide the ways in which our culture has spiraled at this time except to say, I'd be willing to debate the issue with any one at any time.
In order to effectuate culture, to actualize knowledge, to encourage free-thinking at odds with the insurmountable modes of oppression that currently surreptitiously exist within our society, we need quality teachers. My Master's thesis was on this very subject. I can say, whole-heartedily, that good quality teachers result from quality teacher preparation programs based on empirical observation, qualitative and quantitative analysis of various data collected, and the most logical and objective conclusions elicited from that data. Any one who claims that quality preparation programs does not affect teacher quality within the classroom has not experienced, in my opinion, a quality program whereby the difference was clear and palpable. To claim that much of the practice is learned on the job is entirely untrue, but there is so much, so very much, that is learned given the instruction of concept, theory, and then application of pedagogical strategy in real, authentic situations with a variety of opportunities to explore, explain, and reflect upon practices experimented upon. Professional development is critical, but the quality of development depends on the quality of the planning of said development, the determination of the need of said development for any given population of teachers, and the delivery of development in conjunction with teaming strategies, learning activities, time allotted and so forth. In short, "p.d." is better than nothing, but is a poorer substitute for ongoing quality teacher preparation programs. The reality is there are multiple factors that determine a teacher's success and the quality of a program only increases the odds of success. We must look at ourselves as teachers and ask if 1. we would get a job at a nonpublic school that prides itself on its student success rate (extenuating circumstances and variables permitted), and 2. would we be successful at our current school were it not for any number of in-school factors? Did our program adequately prepare us? How did it prepare us? Did it provide multiple avenues of reflection, approach, and experimentation? Did we receive multiple forms of feedback from our academic advisors, teachers, and the like? How often were we in the classroom? How many different pedagogical structures did we practice and then, how many did we push ourselves to utilize despite what might be a natural inclination to us, such as "yelling" as a classroom strategy versus calm speak; or something like the importance of student observation and what we do with that data? Or how we team? Or how we provide feedback? Or why the prepared environment is very important? Or why optimism is and will always be more powerful than negativity? Or how we differentiate to meet our students needs? In short, a quality preparation program will push us to do what is not easy, but what is challenging, what is right, given the complex realities of today's world, and the truth in our common value and belief: that all individuals have a right to a quality public education and that all students, anywhere, can learn given that we provide the right conditions, given that we study how they learn best, given that we understand why they 'do' whatever it is they do, and so forth.
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As professional educators, we must choose to remind ourselves of these facts, especially if we "dislike" a student:
1. Our first job is to educate. Everyone. Plain and simple.
2. They are not 'our' kids and we are not their parents; it is not up to us to treat even the most troublesome student beyond a practicum of professional conduct.
3. We are in the service of education; these kids, and their parents, are our clients. Just as we beco
me irate when mistreated by someone hired to perform a service, and defer to the customer is always right mentality, so too do our kids and we must treat them accordingly: completely neutral and professional. Tone, words, insinuation all carry meaning inferred by our kids and translated accordingly, which thereby causes reaction. We must then recognize we were the impetus of that reaction, whether the child, who is a child, had, like an "annoying" client, said or done anything to precipitate a response from us. This is why there are steps, procedures, and codes of conducts teachers must follow.
4. Our students are children. We are the adults. Period. We must behave as the example and exemplar at all times. Sinking down to a childlike level is not the same as showing a child you understand but remaining the adult in a given situation. Childlike behavior will illicit childlike reactions. Adult behavior will command respect. This begs the question, what is an adult and what does an adult behave like, questions that would be explored in various programs that teach teachers more than content and basic instructional strategies, but philosophy, theory, history of the development of said points and so on.
5. We must model those behaviors we wish to instill into and see practiced by our students always, regularly, and consistently. How we react to a given situstion will to determine the students future reactions, and thereby may or may not cause problems for us later on, for their own kids when they have them, and for society. This means always taking the high road. Educators are revered as sources of what is good and right and true in society, and that means approaching any given situation, if we want our society to evolve, rationally, calmly, with reverence and respect, with stewardship, with focus, and with positive and realistic high road mentality. Remember our values aren't and don't have to be our kids for those reasons aforementioned.
6. We must observe, observe, observe and analyze those observations outside of bias to inform our actions, determine reasons for behaviors, and give us understanding.
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So, we must determine a common language of decency, expectation, uplift, and motivation. Do we motivate through scare tactics? Do we motivate through engagement? Do we force that which a child is not ready to learn? Do we make assuptions about what we think a child should know by now and where do those assumptions stem from? If we espouse multiple intelligences and differentiation, that applies to every aspect of an individual, including behavior. It is not for us as educators to make the case that they need to know a behavior now because they will learn it later on, on the street, outside of school. They are not our own kids! And even though certain life lessons may be learned in raw and unsafe ways, we must model ways to 'deal' and react with grace, dignity, true strength, the strength that helps kids to rise above and not degrade, to critically analyze, to not succumb to emotion but to treat others with kindness and strength of conviction and heart, even in the face of brutality, danger, and monstrous inequality. We must model firmly how Rosa and Martin and other educated greats have acted.
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In short, yes school is more than academic content, but there is a fine line between what we believe is right and what is right based on guidelines, certain truths, and facts. We can ignore this and succumb, as so many educators do, without realizing it, to the slow demise of complacency and jaded cynicism. Or we can always and constantly work, never taking anything for granted, and evolving within our professional practice by pushing our thought process. Do we want to sink into becoming those teachers we always said we never want to be? Or do we see the difficult and unyielding work ahead and continue in a pursuit of collegiate excellence within our practices? No teacher ever said they wanted to become 'bad' and in our hearts, we all mean well. But meaning well, nowadays, isn't good enough. We have to meet the challenges head-on to prepare our kids to compete in a global society, think critically, become contributing members of society, become life-long learners and thinkers, and find inner peace. No teacher strives to be bad, but complacency is a cancer: It happens slowly and without warning. The realization to a teacher that they've become everything they never wanted to be happens never or when it is too late. Quality preparation programs, ongoing professional growth, the establishment of a culture of collegiality and rigorous academic pursuits, with kids at the heart of every conversation, all contribute to effective teaching and thus, effective schools.
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In the end, it's hard, thankless, exhausting work. We must see that, recognize it, stare it dead on and say, do we meet the challenge? How do we support each other in meeting the challenge? And what will our future be if we do not? We must look into our crystal ball of cause and effect and say what type of human being are we 'manufacturing' into the world given our current practices? And, do we blame that image that we see on ourselves or on everything else, and why? Because it is easy? Because we have accepted defeat? Education... real education... means real challenges.
:)
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