thoughts on teaching

"The average high school doesn’t need a teacher with the brilliance required to write a book like Angela’s Ashes, the average high school just needs teachers who are good disciplinarians, who can force just a little bit of knowledge into the students’ brains so they can pass their standardized tests." - from Half Sigma's blog entry

I disagree.

It's always interesting to hear what someone who has never been a teacher thinks teachers should be. We have all been students, and had our own experiences of good and bad teachers. Try stepping to the other side, and be that teacher.

"Re-hab Teacher" is back and well. The district didn't fire her, contrary to prophetic comments heard from her colleagues. As she said, "I'll be here for the rest of my life!" That kind of optimism can only be heard, I think, from a teacher who has been gone "on medical leave" for 4+ weeks, plus 2 more weeks because of Winter Break, without any responsibilities before or during her extended absence for lesson-planning or grading.

Sure, it's fun to be the popular, bubbly teacher who everyone wants to hug. But what are the students learning about Literature and Writing? How well is the "College Prep" English class really preparing them for college?

In college, English 101 cares more that Freshman students can write a coherant, organized, insightful, original analytical essay--not remember the chronological periods of American Literature or that their high school English teacher showed them movies frequently and let them have "parties" in class.

When there is relaxed discipline, lack of routines and boundaries--both personally and behaviorially--order breaks down. That's how you have 19 year old students repeating their senior year. Students don't need their teachers to be their friends. Friendly teachers are good, but teenagers have their own friends. The teacher-student relationship is not equal, and although there can be moments of sincere connection--especially when teachers are coaches or club advisors, that professional boundary and the teacher's clear position as mentor/role model needs to be maintained. I think, in the end, this gains more respect. There is a way to be both a fun, interesting teacher, and a challenging teacher who instructs, inspires, and actually TEACHES so that students remember what was taught years after graduation.

Those teachers who just want to have fun with their classes, tell jokes, and discuss personal matters, dangerously blur the boundaries between their personal life and those of the students should really go into a career of counseling, social work, or work in a community recreation setting--like the YMCA or a teen shelter or youth center.

The warm and caring relationship is good, but it needs to be balanced. When it comes at the expense of real academic teaching and genuine learning, and when it takes the place of a challenging and intellectually stimulating classroom environment, then it's inappropriate and undermines the purpose of being a high school teacher.

Sometimes I wish some high school teachers would grow up and realize how silly it looks when they try to recreate a better, more powerful version (and sometimes total opposite) of their own high school experience. Whether it's to re-live the glory days of being a jock--now experienced as a coach or rabid HS sports fan, or being Ms. Popular, it is awkward to witness. Maybe my five years has made me cynical, but I think I've seen enough to support my opinions with strong evidence and vivid details.

Students grow up and move on, and eventually realize that maybe that one cool teacher was fun, but frankly they don't remember one thing they really learned in class because it was just so easy. But then again, some students sort of teach themselves anyway, based on what they are given for curriculum...and others don't really care about learning anyway. But the AP kids...they get pissed off. What they remember is that the teacher has not ever been present 5 days in a row, they only discussed to chapter 4 in The Scarlet Letter, and they feel cheated out of a stimulating learning experience for Advanced Placement.

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My favorite parts from a NY Times article by Elissa Gootman, "Before Memoirs, He Wrote A's, B's, C's, D's and F's" about Frank McCourt and his newest memoir, Teacher Man:

He lamented the onslaught of gadgets that today's educators have to contend with, saying, "If I were a teacher now I'd have a sign that says, 'If you have a cellphone, I'm going to step on it,' " and likened politicians' efforts to improve education to "interfering with a couple in the bedroom."

"Teachers are treated like the downstairs maid," he said. "If there's a panel on television on education and the schools, do you ever see a teacher? No. Chancellors, politicians, someone from a think tank."
. . .
"The books, the notes, the paperwork, the names that you have to memorize, the individual problems, and to read all this stuff that you take home, it's overwhelming," he said.