PDK/Gallup Poll Says Americans Value Teachers and Want Teachers Supported, Not Punished
Too often lately when I read about teachers and teaching, I am bothered because I suspect the writer has never taught in any kind of school. Even though I know that data from tests and classroom work has always informed teachers’ strategies for working with particular students, I am puzzled by people who assume that teachers keep in mind a compartmentalized mental file of each child’s standardized test scores as the key to strengths and weaknesses and a finite list of steps to be taken to erase the weaknesses. And I am troubled by statisticians calculating econometric formulas to measure the amount of knowledge particular teachers add to a child’s education.
To my mind teaching is an art, though teachers certainly need to inform their practice with what science tells us about psychology and sociology and child development. Teaching is relational. It is not the mere imparting of bits and bites of information. Teachers must come to know their students deeply and respect what each student brings to the relationship. Teaching is about awakening interest, inspiring hard work, stimulating curiosity, listening, considering, supporting, encouraging and making students feel safe enough to learn from criticism. Teachers need to be able to encourage students to analyze, be critical, and challenge authority while at the same time creating a safe and orderly classroom. So much of today’s talk about teachers fails to consider what teachers really do. When learning happens, there is a spark of connection. Gloria Ladson-Billings titled her classic book about teaching, The Dreamkeepers; Sonia Nieto called hers, The Light in Their Eyes.
Even if I try, I find it meaningless to apply the “Value Added Measure” (VAM) concept to my experience with my favorite teachers. A lot of these measures would try to connect “value added” to the salaries I have been able to earn over the years—the economic value of my education. While I certainly don’t want to scoff at the importance of my capacity to work, I don’t really value my own education at all from an economic point of view. The teachers who took the trouble to connect with me, help form my habits of thought, encourage me to be and feel competent—these are the teachers I value, but I can’t measure the worth of my connection to my teachers or assign a numerical value to the experience.
Mike Rose, one of my favorite writers about teachers and education, describes what is rarely considered in much of today’s talk about schooling: “I’m interested here in the experience of education when it’s done well with the student’s well-being in mind. The unfortunate thing is that there is nothing in the standard talk about schooling—and this has been true for decades—that leads us to consider how school is perceived by those who attend it. Yet it is our PDK/Gallup Poll Says Americans Value Teachers and Want Teachers Supported, Not Punished | janresseger: