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Would I like to teach? The author of this Christian Science Monitor piece is surprised that she had such fun.

"Overall, it was a day brimming with what draws people to teaching: curious, animated students; flexible material; nurturing colleagues. All without any of the challenges: tedious planning sessions, disciplinary problems, bureaucratic paperwork, or the looming cloud of standardized tests.

And this set in a placid and affluent Boston suburb, at a school where engaged parents flood teachers' in-boxes with inquisitive e-mails."

If every classroom were like this, we wouldn't have the high turnover and burnout rate that teachers usually have. But the problem is that we don't. Why not?

I teach at a school like this--our parents are involved, our teachers care and know what they are doing, our curriculum is flexible. We still have the standardized tests (going on as I speak) and the tedious planning. So I can't really relate to how hard it is out in the "trenches". But why do these "teach for a day" programs always seem to take place in comfy schools? It seems to me that there would be greater response in the community if people with no teaching skills were set free in a hell of combative, uninterested students with so many out-of-school problems that schooling is very low on their to-do list. Then the message to the press wouldn't be that teaching is fun, rewarding, and successful in schools where children come with the appropriate skill sets and support structures in place. It would instead be "What the hell are we doing to these kids and their teachers?" That's how you catalyze reform.



posted by Eric at 11:00 AM