A Memo on Teacher Voice
Why do people always feel the need to limit the potential of teacher voice?
Last year, I expounded on redefining teacher voice, and what that means for true education reform:Popout
Teacher voice is the collective and individual expression of meaningful, professional opinion based on classroom experience and expertise.
What developed shortly thereafter were a plethora of discussions of what that looks like, and how we employ that in different settings. I came to realize a few things:
- People aren’t always ready to change the paradigm to make decisions more democratically.
- Teachers don’t always have the time or energy besides doing the best job possible in the classroom.
- The education debate as a whole hasn’t evolved from just picking one side and one group of people to side with.