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| 10 of my 34 years of teaching are recorded with detail in my blog, Teach Children Well |
Leaving education abruptly during the threatening days of the pandemic was a right choice for me for three main reasons:
- I had elevated risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus.
- The school system I worked in did not respond to the threat in safe, timely, creative ways.
- My parents required greater care.
In hindsight, I'm glad that I made the choice and I'm glad that prior to making the choice, I did what I could to try to promote a more balanced decision which would include safe, creative, reasonable working conditions that would help me do a great job while avoiding the risk of the virus at the same time.
During the past year I've reviewed my professional career of 34 years with scrutiny. I considered what worked and what didn't. My review pointed to the fact that I was wholly invested in my teaching career and tried to do my best every one of those 34 years--that was a blessing. To have the passion and enthusiasm for the profession for 34 years was a gift that truly propelled all that I did. I also had many bright, talented colleagues within the school system, throughout the state, and via multiple online channels that continuously inspired me, taught me, and helped me to do the job well--those colleagues included a broad group of educators, family members, students, and people from multiple disciplines. That professional learning network (PLN) was invaluable to my professional work. And, I worked in a community where the residents valued quality education and care for all children. I was able to speak inclusively and act to empower every child--my work was not dictated my narrow mindedness, overt bigotry, or explicit ignorance. That was all good.
My review of my professional career pointed to some deficits that hurt me and what I could do for students. Those are deficits that I experienced and knew about when I taught, but became even more clear a year after leaving the profession. The deficits include the following:
- Inadequate infrastructure in schools which inhibit success That inadequate infrastructure includes the following:
- weak, inefficient, and unfocused administrative teams that do not support the front line workers (educators, custodians, teaching assistants, principals) in the ways possible. The administrative team at many schools is inefficient and self-serving which obstructs the good work possible with students, families, and educators on the front line.
- inhumane, oppressive teaching buildings and schedules--too often the schedules do not allow for sufficient breaks, lunch time, or planning periods which leaves educators with too much contact time and not enough planning/think time. Too often educational buildings are outdated, crowded, and uncomfortable--this creates inhumane situations for many who are vying for space, standing in line to use the restroom, pumping breast milk for their newborns in their cars, slipping on wet floors due to humidity, and sweating in too-hot classrooms with 25+ students without air conditioning.
- Mismanagement of payroll, paperwork, and other matters that stress teachers out and take time and energy from the work they do.
- Insufficient, confounded communication patterns. The better, more honest, and more predictable the communication patterns are, the better teams will work together.
- Lack of real support for teachers' social/emotional welfare. Teaching is a profession that has the potential to completely deflate you if you don't have good leadership and supports. There needs to be more research and supports put in place to support educators' good work and development. It is not only educators' knowledge that matters, but their social/emotional development and strength are equally or more critical to doing the job well.
- We have to get rid of the industrial lens used to manage/lead schools--this is an outdated scope that includes far too much bigotry related to class, race, gender, culture, and geography. This is another way to improve schools.
Hopefully, educators who remain in the profession will band together to demand better infrastructure and emotional/social supports so they can do their jobs with as much talent and skill possible.
Only now, a year later, have I been able to take a look at my body of work from the last decade, a body of work shared and analyzed via my teaching blog, Teach Children Well. My passion for the job is well recorded in that blog as well as the many, many challenges I faced and resources I relied on to teach well. I will likely begin to dissect and re-organize those posts into a book of some sort in the days ahead--a book meant to support teachers in the field as well as to inspire decision makers to do a better job at supporting the good in schools rather than replicating the bad.
Schools are a cornerstone of American society, yet they are a long neglected and mismanaged cornerstone. It's time to rethink how we support and promote public and private education throughout the country. Our nation depends on this, and this is something we can do. Onward.