Mike Schmoker's ideas in his "Results Now" book left me feeling very discouraged. It sounds like his opinions and thoughts are based on research so I guess that some of it is true, but it still left me with many questions. I have spent most of my life in the classroom, first as a student and for many years now as a teacher. Thinking back to my own education I have to say that I found many good teachers along the way who inspired me in my learning. Of course there were those who were not so good but overall, I was always pretty happy with my teachers. As a teacher myself, I have also encountered many other educators who have been inspirational to me in my own career. I have watched veteran teachers persevere and stay passionate about their work and I have also watched new teachers spend countless numbers of hours working at establishing themselves, all for the benefit of students. As with anything, there are always those who do fall into many of Schmoker's categories, however I would say that the majority do not.
I became a teacher because of a love for children, the desire to make a difference and to do something meaningful with my career. I believe those reasons have been the motivating factors for most who enter this profession. It makes me sad to think that we are viewed as slackers who are simply looking for an easy way out. I understand the importance of collaboration with others and I see all of the benfits of working as a team. But, I know for a fact that even if I was not working alongside my grade level partners, it would be my own conscience that would keep me on task in my classroom. The majority of the teachers I work with have this type of dedication as well. So from my own personal perspective, the excerpt from Schmoker's book is offensive. However, as I stated earlier, he seems to have some valid research in the article so I guess that some of it must be true. This is the type of stuff that gives teachers a bad name.
5 comments:
Schmoker must obviously not be a teacher for if he was he would know that no one wakes up one day and says "Yes, I want to be a slacker, have a lax career where noone is watching me, have tons of vacation time and basically no worries about been fired - yep I want to be a teacher." It's riduclous that many people, even parents, actually believe that teachers have it easy, that we don't work that much (!!!!yeah right!!!!) and that we do not strive for excellence.
I've said this before, but again your post makes me say it again. Teachers are undervalued and misunderstood by our society and that is one of the most serious problems in education. Most of us see our "job" as a type of a calling and are ethically and morally tied to our everyday discussions because of it. No, we are not perfect and the education system is far from perfect, but the initial incentive of compassion and love for knowledge and children is the center of it all...
Hi, Dana. I agree with your post, as well as Nataly's response to it. I would love to see Schmoker try to teach a class for just one day. I'd even give him the benefit of collaboration with another teacher and the support of an administrator. I think he'd find it's much harder than it appears.
Dana I totally agree with you and I also agree with what Nataly said also. It takes a special kind of person to be a teacher. I personally don't feel that just anybody can be a teacher. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication. Hard working dedicated teachers are not slackers. Teachers don't get the credit that they deserve. I think the majority of us try to change the sterotypes that our job has.
I don't know if Schmoker is a teacher basher, or perhaps seeing teachers as a whole from an administrative lens. When you are an administrator, you see the best and the worst in your building...and perhaps you wonder why they all can't be like the best?
Do you feel that the "5 things" Schmoker talks about are done frequently in the classrooms in your school?
It certainly is unfortunate that education has to deal with its rotten apples. I wonder how we could do more to spotlight the dedicated teachers like yourself that commit to students regardless of who's watching. Perhaps we need to change our professional development or tenure programs to ensure that only the well-intentioned, self-motivated workers will get to call themselves teachers. I agree with you that it doesn't seem like forced collaboration is any way to get teachers to improve.
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