More and more I wonder: is school a good place for teachers who want to make a difference in the lives of their students, and to the future of the world? Is there a way to leave the daily farce of gradebooks, attendance sheets, tests, corporate and statist curriculum, homework assignments, grade-licking college careerist “students” (and parents), fear of parents and administrators, and fear of inconvenient socio-political truths - and at the same time, to make a far more meaningful impact on the lives of the young?
I’m thinking yes. I’m thinking, moreover, obviously. I’m not sure how much longer I want to work for schools. I’d so much rather teach.
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56 Comments
I just earned my teaching certificate last summer… and promptly discarded my public teaching career. I’d been working in a public school district, first as a librarian and then as the IT director. I quit and started home schooling my son this fall.
John, I just visited your “Peter Learns” blog by clicking on your name above (hint to other readers), and was so impressed. What a wonderful teacher you’ve become as you homeschool Peter.
Out of curiosity, what sort of work are you doing now?
Clay,
I will most likely retire after the next school year - not from teaching, but from teaching in a public school setting.
I hope to expand my horizons and become more involved with online facilitating.
I’ll miss the kids, but not the structure and certainly not the “accountability” to everything but the learners.
My virtual colleagues will remain my inspiration and my lifeline. Tweet and blog on!
diane
Right now I’, a full time Dad. But… I’m pursuing funds to start a non-profit that recycles discarded computers. I’ll collect computers from organizations that regularly toss out “old” computers, install Ubuntu on them, and give them to people who don’t have a computer. I’ll provide Internet to the recipients and teach them to use their new computer.
(P.S. Sorry about the email address. Hope it works this time.)
I feel your dilemma, Clay. I left the classroom last spring–for much the same reason–with no clear destination. I’m now doing contracting work for the Children’s Bureau. The work is still important, I think, and is also “easier” than teaching. (My full-time responsibilities now equate to what I did in my “spare time” as a teacher.)
But I miss the teaching part, helping students, pondering the best ways to help them move forward. (And the hour-long trainings that I deliver now don’t fill the void). And, to be honest, I also miss “academia” and the culture of knowledge, study, and research. I must be a nerd.
I sometimes consider educational leadership, or higher education, but can’t convince myself on either front. In my most fantastic daydreams, I envision starting my own school with a group of like-minded educators.
Which directions are you considering post public-school classroom?
Ditto to all the above, but I wonder — exactly how? Excellent post. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Clay,
Having left the classroom three years ago now, let me tell you that I don’t think I could ever go back. One of the reasons that I left was that I was unable to make it look and feel as relevant as my own learning is now. That’s not entirely the fault of the district or the system; there are obviously better more committed teachers than I who are making it work, though I will admit they are still only a few (making it work, that is.) I’m really not sure how all of this plays out. Schools either change because the old structures become irrelevant or because there are better, more interesting choices, or they remain the same because grade licking and the deeply ingrained ways in which we recognize “success” or “intelligence” just will not be replaced any time soon. Either way, I’m convinced it’s going to take a long time. And I’m also convinced that none of it will change until a “critical mass” of educators understand the power of personal learning. Problem with that is, of course, that most of them like you, will consider leaving and inevitably leave the classroom for less frustrating pursuits before such a coalition can be put together.
I thought that looking for a job that included some leadership was what I wanted five years ago when I landed the Coordinator job I now have. I felt that the way to help change things even at a local level was to have the chance (even 2 days a week) to work with the adults in the education equation. I’m finding that is the frustrating part. I now find that working with students who are open to “new ways” of accessing and furthering their learning is what excites me in this game. I get so frustrated by teachers who want step by step instructions and handouts and who don’t want to see any bigger picture outside the four walls of their classroom. I landed on my feet by starting blogging and connecting with the world’s best innovative teachers and educational thinkers and it’s what I can achieve with the kids is what captures my interest right now. However, to have the admin password for the web filter and the ability to help determine where the dollars get spent on technology and then help manage that assists me in working on that. What else could I do? The responsibilities of a family have a huge bearing on my options and not every one can capitalise on a profile like Will’s and become a larger than the system change agent.
Hmmm… I haven’t really added anything substantial to the conversation here, have I?
@Eric (and dittohead Taylor
):
You articulate some of my fears of what is lost when we leave teaching - primarily the daily dose of humanities, for me, and the contact with students.
You also hit my misgivings about any of the traditional ways out of the farce: educational leadership? Great, become the captain of the ship you want off of; higher education? - maybe….I have no direct experience of that world, but several professor friends who seem none-too-enthralled by it. (I don’t miss research and academia, though - the scholarship is typically as bloodless as the scholars, in my experience.)
Your “dream,” Eric, of starting a school with like-minded educators is one I see bandied about so often it drives me crazy. I’m fairly convinced a few people with a track record of skills and intelligence could find the investors to fund such a thing. And there’s nothing lost by trying. I was in quiet discussions with a few people last summer - some quite high-profile - but they lost focus and it petered out.
As for my own solution? I hope it won’t involve (no offense, Will) replacing recalcitrant students with recalcitrant teachers. I hate to sound cagey, but I have to keep my “obvious” solution(s) under wraps right now. I will say they aim to keep connections with students, but not through the traditional classroom means. Think “church” or “community center,” and how people in those institutions maintain longer and more relevant relationships with youths than our quick-in/quick-out school-year relationship. We have the new tools to create new institutions, if only we have the usually lacking other ingredients: imagination and dogged willpower.
@Will:
I like your diagnosis, but am not sure about the prognosis. I guess it’s a question - and I can see Stephen Downes furrowing his brow at the coming lines - of whether such a “coalition” has to form within the current schools. As I just said to Eric, means can be found to set up alternatives, rather than aim for a mutiny in the system itself.
But really, I’m not even sure any of this is where I want to go, personally.
@Graham:
(And Graham, I owe you a comment on your “Parable 2.0” post about trying to pull other teachers into global collaborative projects - you nailed so much of what I’ve experienced over the years. Let’s face it: lots of teachers just can’t get there, no matter how easy we make it for them - like every system, this one has its fair share of flakes and sloths.)
You do add something to the mix here, for me, anyway. Namely, that it’s the magic that happens within the circle of you, your students, and the creative use of technology to enhance learning.
But here’s my take on that, Graham: you work with younger students than I do. By the time they reach high school, they’ve with very few exceptions had most passion for learning beaten out of them, and replaced with a passion for gaming the grading system.
So that creativity you enjoy with the younger students is killed by the time they reach me.
I don’t know where this leaves me. I’m still thinking about it, and really, there’s no dire hurry. I’ve got an annually renewable contract, and life at my school is far better than at most.
It’s just that I’m haunted by the prospect of never taking bold action before dying, never rolling my energies up in a ball aimed squarely at the biggest obstructions to progress in education and in the larger world.
And that’s where my love of traditional writing comes in, coupled with my increasing loves of non-traditional (ie, web 2.0) envisioning, strategizing, and implementing.
Ten years ago, I would have felt powerless to effect change. One year of blogging, network-building, twittering, etc, has changed that. These activities are all such potentially powerful force-multipliers. And I can’t stop thinking of how best to deploy that force outside of the status quo.
Thanks for your comments, all.
Clay,
Sounds like (pardon my dated similes) a mentoring ModSquad/A-team/Mission Impossible.
Sign me up!
diane
It’s an awful loss for public education when teachers who care as much as those commenting above leave the classroom, however, I also understand because I made the same choice for myself. I know through my current job the idea of accessing kids through school is something we battle with all the time. It seems a logical approach to reach out to kids in schools, but for a multitude of reasons that could take up several more posts, it’s increasingly difficult to interact with schools. There’s no perfect solution, so we press on and keep reaching for the tools, models, and resources that will best address the needs of the kids we’re trying to serve.
Hello, Clay,
In my experience, the best teachers within schools were often the ones who frustrated their administrators *because* they put teaching first. These teachers were the ones who made a difference, but wrestling with administrators is an additional layer of hard work on top of the already hard work of teaching well.
With that said, there are a lot of great teachers, and some great administrators, out there. I have had the pleasure of working with amazing educators — people who were able to tolerate or ignore the frustration of working within a flawed structure.
The frustrations you articulate are some of the same frustrations that led to me leave the classroom after 16 years of teaching. I have been fortunate to be able to transition into designing the systems that support the type of open learning you and other people describe, and that I found useful in my teaching career. Stepping out of the classroom is a scary step, as it involves both a change in how you keep a roof over your head and a change in your identity — at that point, according to how most people define it, you are no longer a “teacher.”
With that said, you can do a lot of great teaching when freed from the restraints of the system that is designed to “educate” — but you obviously know that
And when it comes to making a difference and helping kids — that can be achieved inside or outside a classroom. At the risk of stating the obvious, a sane, balanced, caring human presence can make a positive difference for any person of any age, and doesn’t need to occur in a classroom.
Cheers,
Bill
Hi Clay,
I’m a bit late responding to this, I see. The holiday season and the end of the semester has kept me offline the majority of my time in recent days, so I am making at least a small attempt at catching up now (before the next short holiday, a birthday, and the new semester hit).
At the University of Colorado at Boulder, where I pretty much learned everything I know about teaching while also getting my MA in English, I knew a professor named Marty Bickman. To me, he was an exemplar of all things good about teaching. He promoted a kind of radical active learning that I’ve yet to see duplicated, he promoted the rights and interests of students, he worked to develop hybrid courses before they were really coming into play, and he developed and then managed a Service Learning program to help students make their learning practical, experiential, and helpful to the surrounding community. As you might guess, Marty is not well-liked among university faculty and administration. He bucks the system more than most professors, and - worse - he *trains groups of new graduate teachers as they pass through their programs and their teaching assistantships. He trained me. He trained my colleague Jesse Stommel (whose Queer Lit course made national headlines for its radical approach). Every year, Marty trains more graduate students who will one day become teachers.
To me, there are two things that Marty has done that I would love one day to model: First, he has stayed inside a system that barely works to affect those he can, and make work those components of the education system that he can. Second, Marty trains teachers. He propagates his philosophies of teaching - philosophies that respect students, expect great things from students, and stay always open to new and better ways to help students achieve, succeed, excel.
Also, Marty never stops teaching. He has never left the classroom to accomplish these things. He teaches a class that helps train new teachers, he teaches courses for the Service Learning program… He wants to change education, and he’s created a space for himself where he can do that through *teaching.
Your Students 2.0 project, Clay, is an inspiration. And the way I see you interacting with other teachers online can create profound repercussions. It can be a long and sometimes slavish road, and it’s not for everyone, but something tells me you’re on to something.
Be well,
Sean
Clay-
Thinking back to the famous teachers of history: Aristotle, Plato, religious figures, Baron Von Steuben, Squanto, Thomas Jefferson….how many of them practiced their craft in what today we would call a “school”?
A school is a social construct of our time, as you know. When education shifted from private to public, the paperwork and bueracracy came with it, much like many aspects of life that are “public”; government, military, postal service, etc.
I know your situation is different, but I urge you either not to leave. Here is why. When all the good teachers leave school, I fear that only those who can’t afford or who don’t have access to the teachers who could afford to “leave” will be left in the public setting with the unmotivated and uninspired.
Personal tidbit: I have been an administrator for 9 years now. Not a day goes by where I don;t miss being in the classroom– paperwork and all. The reason is because I still run into and hear from former students in all walks of life who said I made a different in theirs.
Now as an administrator on a district level, my goal is to try to make sure that as many teachers as possible who are in my system keep trying to make an impact and to de-buerocracize the system as much as a can so the focus is on learning, not paperwork.
Happy New Year.
Barry
Hi Clay,
Just popping back in to add a little further bit from your reply here. You write, “Graham: you work with younger students than I do. By the time they reach high school, they’ve with very few exceptions had most passion for learning beaten out of them, and replaced with a passion for gaming the grading system.”
This is a major issue and very disheartening from my point of view. It can all go pear-shaped very quickly for students who learn to reshape their prowess to the next teacher’s expectations. I can provide all of the cutting edge, independence building, authentic based learning I like but that enthusiasm and passion my students have this year can be so easily dulled by a less savvy teacher who places less value on independence, addressing ethical digital issues and all of the progress comes to a halt. I had a conversation with an ex-student in a Year 7 class this year in the computing room (I taught him in Year 6) where I watched over his shoulder as he cut’n'paste directly from the web into a powerpoint for his Personal Project. I stopped him and expressed my surprise at his actions, his lack of attribution, originality and even his lack of design in his powerpoint. “You’re much more capable than that! What about all of the great stuff we did last year? Why don’t you apply those skills and methods here?”
He quickly looked sideways to ascertain the whereabouts of his current teacher and then quietly said, “It’s not like last year any more. I’d rather do my project the way you showed us last year - it makes more sense and is heaps more enjoyable but we’re supposed to do this way now. It’s not worth the argument - she won’t understand.”
Indeed, we teach them how to play “school”. And probably, my version is no better than anyone else’s.
Graham, your version probably is better, as your own anecdote suggests.
Barry, I hate to point out the irony of your own position, but there it is. Maybe if the pay had been livable, you would have stayed in the classroom. Maybe it was a less romantic view (with all due respect, which you know I have for you) of teaching when you were in the thick of it. I imagine administration brings its own waves of frustration, still being in the same system, but at least it pays the bills a bit more easily.
I go back, though, to what I said to Graham. The insincerity of students and the inauthenticity of learning at the high school level leave me feeling like a preacher who no longer believes in the Gospel he peddles for his daily bread. The only reason he stays in the institution has nothing to do with faith, and everything to do with livelihood and bad conscience.
I think I can do this with a good conscience, if I do it my way. (And Barry, I work in the most expensive private school in Seoul, so I’m already doing little for the underprivileged.)
Thanks all. I’m sounding more sour than the bubbling in my brain warrants. I’m seeing openings in this cage that seem frankly easy to pass through.
What strikes me in reading through all of this is the randomness with which change occurs, gets rolled back, appears again, etc. Sure, there are many silos, islands, call them what you will, where kids are being affected by good teachers and administrators who practice progressive pedagogies. And the cool thing about this moment is that we have some great ways of connecting those random spaces with these technologies. The reality, however, is that “The System” inhibits those connections at every turn. Like the teacher who commented on my post (linked in the thread above) whose administration told him to “cease and desist” when sending out links to the school to his newest blog posts.
We teach our kids to value results, not learning. And the system forces us to teach to results, not learning. Until the results are measured differently, Clay, you won’t find your bliss in the classroom. And yes, you may change a good number of lives in you time with them, but at some point, someone else will tell them “that’s not the way we do it” anymore. Hate to sound so depressing…but we only have a limited time to make as much of an impact as we can.
Will notes that “…change occurs, gets rolled back, appears again, etc.” He’s right. Teaching and learning is a continuum, especially with an inquiry-based approach that stives for meaningful action. Sometimes I focus too long on the point in the continuum where inquiry and action tend to get rolled back. It’s moments like Graham’s when former students realize that inquiry, creativity, and originality don’t always fit into the system that erode passion. However, the same moments can fuel a desire to effect change. Graham’s student should hear that it is worth the argument, that his teacher will understand.
Taking on such arguments moves us all along the teaching and learning continuum. School is a good place to make a difference in the lives of students, teachers, and the rest of the school community.
Change will appear again.
Tod, I’m just not convinced school _is_ such a good place to make a difference - at least a lasting one.
Again, I think churches (minus the preachers) have the better angle: they influence the young not for a single year, then bye-bye, but for the entire “childhood” of the young - at least, as long as their parents drag them there, as they are dragged to school as well.
Churches don’t give homework and grades. But their teachings still seem far more effective in many cases - I learn this by reading my student blogs, in which they write about the facticity of Adam and Eve, of Jesus dying for their sins, of Judgment Day, and the Six Days’ Creation, as if they’ve never done a day of science homework in their lives.
So if a weekly “class” of indoctrination on Sunday morning can obliterate 12 years of Monday-through-Friday science study in school, that tells me that schools are not good places to create change.
Add to that, the science teachers cannot discuss the myriad ways that the Sunday schooling has no evidence or science to back it up, but a mountain of evidence to refute it, because said teachers fear losing their jobs defending reason in this way - and you have one of many of my arguments against school.
Science should be amazing. It is amazing, to those of us not doing homework and taking tests about it. But it’s not even true to our students in science classes.
History is the same. Cut too close to questions of national righteousness or economic and corporate crime, and you can expect an angry parent or two will put you on trial for attempting to generate real inquiry about the status quo.
And let’s not even talk about the qualifications and knowledge-base of so many of the teachers in our schools, who are probably calling evolution “just a theory” in their science classes, and “fairly balancing” that theory with Intelligent Design and/or Creationism (and getting patted on the back for it by their preachers on Sunday), or who are feeding the media line about the “Axis of Evil” to their history classes - and again, we have another case against schools being good places for change.
What am I missing? Serious question.
Thanks for stopping by, Tod. I really am glad to be conversing after our brief meeting in Shanghai.
Let’s not forget the large number of teachers unaware of the ideas of free culture and the concepts behind intellectual property. No wonder our students have created their own moral compasses regarding copying and sharing of digital media - because there’s precious few of us even having conversations with their students along this line.
I agree, schools can feel stifling. Clay presents examples unfamiliar to none of us. Then on the free culture and intellectual property issues, Graham points out that students have created their own moral compasses. Isnt’ that it? Isn’t that the challenge we all face when it comes to teaching and learning–many moral compasses pointing in many directions?
Do we really want our moral compasses to point in the same direction? Will that create a good place for teachers to make a difference in the lives of students?
Okay, goin’ for more coffee…
Tod, I am by no means advocating that teachers impose their own moral compasses on their students. I’m just saying that when it comes to the topics of importance that aren’t necessarily part of the curriculum (although they are tied in various ways) - science, inquiry, ethics - teachers are missing in action in just having discussion and conversations with their students. So many are saying, “That’s not part of my job. I just deliver the mandated curriculum.” Just talking about some of these things with their kids and finding out more about the way they view the world would be a start.
Graham, I didn’t think you were advocating that teachers impose moral compansses on their students. I didn’t intend to imply that either.
I was trying to say that it’s inevitable that we deal with different moral compasses in schools. They can make teaching and learning difficult but maybe that’s for the better. Maybe that’s what makes schools a good place to make a meaningful difference.
Cheers,
Tod
Thanks for that clarification, Tod. My words could have been a bit open to interpretation but I think we understand each other OK now.
Tod, when you write,
are you saying that all moral compasses are created equal? “I believe it, therefore it’s true and beyond discussion”?
It’s the impossibility of “teaching controversy,” to go back to an old post by Doug Noon, that makes relevant change in students’ thinking - and relevant change in their social, political, and economic worldviews - that keeps those moral compasses immune to a dose of honest, rational reflection in schools, in my experience.
And that makes schools part of the problem, not the solution.
Our schools are far closer to the Islamic madrassas than we care to admit, I’d argue.
Clay, you have started a storm of comments with your post and I am fascinated by the responses. Your initial statement…’..leave teaching to become a teacher’ confuses me a little. Are you considering online/virtual teaching? Or teaching teachers?
Like you I have worked in a number of international scenarios with a range of educators and pedagogical systems. Schools can be frustrating, stifling, political, intimidating..but they do contain students who are young, largely untainted by the real world they will enter in terms of making their way and avoiding the setbacks. I thrive on my daily contact with young people. They are the ones who teach me, everyday!
Yes, it is exhausting keeping up with the energy of the younger ones, and soul destroying sometimes trying to motivate the older ones, however this is where the future of our world as we know it is, these are the ones who will create the next world, so I want to learn from them and help guide them to become global citizens.
I do not necessarily think teaching needs to be in a room with 4 walls. There are successful virtual teaching models however schools provide sociability and the opportunity to be in the same place at the same time.
My current family constraint with a teenager needing an ‘education’ allows me to continue in an international school setting. This year I teach 250 students as well as steer a PreK-12 international school in Qatar into the 21st century…..However, next year (0809) I have been ‘promoted’ to an administration position with no teaching load. Is this what I really want? I am arguing I still want a foot in the classroom, to be with 1 or 2 select classes who I can continue to learn from. Am I mad? To be offered an admin position (something I have worked towards) and now say I still want to be in the classroom? I want to be a teacher who does it as well as tells others how to do it while I still have the opportunity. I admire Will for his resolve to make it out of the classroom and we need you Will (and David W and others!).
OK, check back with me next September….but I agree Clay, this is a tough, but I do not want to be out of the classroom just as things are really getting interesting with global projects, Web 2.0, multimedia, enhanced bandwidth, social networking etc.
Man, Clay, you’ve set the world on fire with this one.
I left the classroom seven years ago. I was advising (read soaking up like a sponge) the extra-curricular goings-on of the Sci-Fi Club, a plumb gig that no other teacher wanted. To this day, I have no idea why. A group of students descended on me on my first day like they were equipped with geeky radar—somehow, they KNEW I’d been a D&D enthusiast in my youth— announced that they were a club in desperate need of an advisor and the accompanying institutional legitimacy so afforded, and put their happy hooks into me. Serving as their official institutional guardian was first a privilege, and second a sort of homecoming. They were the only thing that kept me on keel while I struggled with my own version of the paradox you so eloquently express in your post, and which the many many commentators have elaborated on.
One of my SF posse’s pals, a student from an alternative magnet high school with the enigmatic nickname Sushi, sat in on one of our weekly meetings. We ended up chatting about her academic path, and I asked her how she ended up at her current school. She thought a moment and replied with this succinct masterpiece: “I don’t thrive in institutions.”
Neither do I, Sushi. Her comment marked the death knell for my orthodox teaching career, and I’ve been reeling from and trying to make sense of it ever since, floating on the edges of “school,” keeping my hand in, and knocking around the same questions of relevance and meaning you raise. And generally with a good deal less rigor than you bring to it, although active blogging goes a long way toward remedying that.
There’s no moral to this story, and certainly no advice. No heartwarming bromides from this corner. What slayed me about those SF kids was how exceptional, how smart, and yet how marginalized and OTHER they were. These were funny, resilient, creative kids who were doing their level unorthodox best to avoid having the passion beaten out of them, and for the most part staying ahead of the game. Remember, they couldn’t get an advisor to sign on with them until I was lucky enough to be stumbled upon by them—they were still in the match but falling behind on points. Mostly, though, what killed me was how much they reminded me of myself at that age, and how powerful and lasting my own unorthodox out-of-school learning experiences had been—experiences that seemed unremarkable at the time, but in retrospect were high-water marks that made later high school and college going-through-the-motions pale in comparison.
All in all, a humbling experience, the kind of thing that makes you sit up and take notice. They reminded me that real learning IS possible and powerful, if frustratingly elusive. Parker Palmer says something about one’s true identity being shy, like a wild animal, and reluctant to show itself in public. Crashing into the woods loudly demanding an appearance isn’t likely to work very well. But we insist on (brow)beating the bushes in our approach to schooling ; we’re constantly surprised when the beautiful quicksilver beast eludes our snare once again. What the SF kids made clear to me is that I lost the thread of true learning a long time ago, and I’d better pick it up again and be absolutely sure about my grasp before stepping back into a traditional classroom.
You nail it with what you say about your dueling loves: traditional and nontraditional. I got my last teaching position by uttering two words in the interview : “Shakespeare” and “subversive.” You go on to say that times have changed since ten—or in my case, seven—years ago with the advent of Web 2.0, and the power it gives us to effect change. Exactly. This is a digital immigrant moment, I’d say. We’re still stunned that such possibilities are in our hands. It’s not our habit; we’re more used to things being out of our hands, not in them. And we’re still learning what do to with it, what changes to effect.
Julie (hope you don’t mind that I edited your comment by creating paragraphs - I have a hard time reading long paragraphs!),
My closing line simply meant to draw a distinction between what “teaching” is in schools, and what teachers do and have done, historically and today, outside of schools.
The two are very different. Half of what teachers do in schools has nothing to do with teaching; and half of what teachers could teach in schools is not allowed for all the reasons peppered above, and more.
I will say I’m not considering teaching teachers, to answer that question. Students 2.0 should give you evidence of where my energies and loyalties are: towards working around teachers and schools to reach the young directly (but only those with fire in them).
I’m not sure I agree that students are “largely untainted” because they’re young. On the contrary, I see so much gaming of the grading system, uninvested hw performance (and who blames them, much of the time?), clueless detachment from caring or knowing about or acting in the real world, and so forth. They seem to have a “convict near the end of the prison sentence” mentality that makes sense to me psychologically, but gives me little hope pedagogically - in the current school system(s), anyway.
On a side note, the argument implicit in your comment that without schools, the young will not experience “socialization” is so often heard when we talk about alternatives - and I don’t buy it for at least these two reasons:
First, the young have existed for the history of our species - half a million years, say? - and modern schools have existed for about 150; youths from Socrates to Samuel Johnson seemed to turn out just fine without socialization in public schools. That’s the historical argument.
Second, there are other ways to socialize our young than herding them into timed, age-homogeneous cubicles like so many sheep, and then setting them free in the hallways, cafeterias, and playgrounds to develop their Lord of the Flies cliques (goodness help those who don’t fit in, but are helpless to leave in search of a place they do). The apprenticeship model of centuries past - youths working with adults and older youths in project-based learning (in the best cases, anyway) that was relevant to their individual interests and talents - seems a much more humane way of socializing than our walled pastures today.
I’m in the same boat you’re in as far as next year. Leave the classroom altogether to train teachers? Keep one class? Those are two of my questions.
But my third one is: Leave altogether and try something outside the (school) box?
I’m a huge fan of the great Soviet exile filmmaker Tarkovsky. In his powerful The Sacrifice, there’s a character named “Otto the Postman.” Otto has a mission in life - to collect stories of miracles, verify and validate them, and use that collection to change the minds of the world.
Another character says to Otto, upon first meeting him (and says it condescendingly): “So, you’re a postman.”
Otto says, “No. I deliver mail to feed myself. My real work has nothing to with making a paycheck. Delivering the mail makes my real work possible.”
I keep talking about alternatives that are outside of the box. One is to find another means of income altogether, so that the real work of changing education can be done without fear of job loss for speaking and acting freely.
More on that as it comes clearer, and closer to execution.
But Otto was on to something.
Thanks for stopping by, Julie.
Perhaps a slightly different take on this.
I recently joined teaching from a reasonably successful business career where I got to travel, work in and manage hotels here in Oz, in Amsterdam and in Indonesia. I certainly earned far more from that job and had way more perks that I will ever have in teaching no matter how fair I rise (should I ever be tempted to go for job promotions in the future).
Firstly I love teaching. In two years I’ve made more impressions on my fellow man than I ever did as a hotelier. I already know of students who’ve gone out of their way to thank me for some effort I’ve made for them (often an effort I wasn’t ever aware I had made). I have a captive audience who are forced to sit and pretend to listen to me. I have young, energetic and vibrant students who I enjoy going to meet every day. They have a different take on life to me, they educate me as much, if not more, than I educate them.
In business I had a car, a secretary, travel and other perks. I made some guests happy and others I gave money back to. I never connected with them like I connect with my students. I worked horrendous hours and absorbed stress like an intravenous drip.
I’m new to teaching and that newness will wear off but I’m close enough to working outside of teaching to still have some perspective. Teaching is grand. I may not make a difference to any student out there but they certainly make a difference to me. My students are often indolent and apathetic, not much different to me at their age. I’m not a good enough teacher to break through their apathy or indolence for more than a brief moment but when those moments come they’re worth far more than the money I was being paid in hotels.
I can see how the system builds frustrations - I’ve already butted my head against my school’s antiquated take on technology - but I can’t see how working outside the system can be any better than working away from within.
It’s work like you’re doing Clay that I aspire to as a new teacher. Perhaps you’re already teaching outside of the classroom….
More and more, I hear teachers saying they are leaving public school. I have been teaching in a public school for 23 years. I worked in one school for one year, one for two years, and this last one for 20 years and counting. My first two experiences were terrible. We did what we were told. No teaching, just test prep. And this was all before NCLB.
Now I work in a district where our scores are so high that I can relax. The superintendent understands that high scores gives us the freedom to be. The gov’t stays off our backs, the parents encourage us to be creative, and the board pushes us to find innovative ways to engage the students.
We spend an incredible amount of money on staff development. Conferences are payed for, our teacher center runs many fabulous courses, we have money for visitations to other classes, etc. I myself run several technology classes in the teacher center that are not only well-received by staff, but are encouraged by the administration.
Bottom line for me…administration is everything. We have a superintendent who trusts us and encourages us. And funding to run with this encouragement. All in a top public school. They do exist out there. I know it’s hard to find but I urge all you great, innovative teachers not to give up. I didn’t always have this great administration but it sure does make a difference.
(And, while I know I teach little children who are enthusiastic about school, I work with high school teachers who are just as excited about teaching as I am and have students who love coming to school each day.)
Mark, Lisa, thank you both for balancing all the kvetching about the negatives I’ve generated with some well-founded positives.
For the record: I love working for my administrators - I honestly couldn’t hope for better.
And I love moments in the classroom with students. This year has been difficult because it’s my first year teaching seniors, and while they’re all fine young people, they’re nowhere near the joy to teach that last year’s grade 9’s were.
And it’s not their fault. They’ve been driven to distraction by the college application game, and are also in that last year of their school sentence, which surely brings the smell of freedom so close that it serves as a second powerful distraction.
So as schools go, I couldn’t ask for a better one. (Okay, I could ask for IB instead of AP.)
But it’s still school. It still follows an American curriculum. It still buys in to the GPA and testing as measurements of learning and success. It still chops learning into artificial, de-contextualized, segmented slices of what I think should be holistic thinking (not “departmental” or “disciplinary”), and all according to a factory bell.
Alternative schools are doing things differently. And most of them don’t understand or use tech the way we’re beginning to see that it can be used. That just makes me restless.
But that doesn’t make the teaching profession in the mainstream without value, or without magic.
Thanks again for reminding me of that.
Clay,
Wow. A lot to think about in everyone’s comments.
I was having a conversation with a friend yesterday about high school education and what I thought should be done differently, and she asked, why don’t teachers just rise up and say this doesn’t work?
I told her that I thought enough teachers were themselves former “model students” that they accept how the system works. It’s hard to think outside the box of how we were schooled, sometimes.
You’re circling around a very important piece of teaching, which is relationship.
I think high school scheduling doesn’t favor the time for relationship building, in general. With teachers having 125 or more students passing before their eyes daily, it’s difficult. And yet I think relationship is one of the most important inroads we have with students.
I both applaud you questioning what teaching and learning are all about and also hope that you realize what a difference voices like yours make in our schools. Do we work within the system and try to change it? Do we start a new entity completely? (how incredible that would be!) Do we lead and be a change agent in that way? Do we write? Do we teach other teachers?
There are so many different and serendipitious paths that each of us take to find our way to meaning. I think the answer is really a personal one. But by sharing our path, we can all learn from one another, so thank you for that.
One thing I would say is that every student, jaded or no, deserves the chance to be “woken up” and challenged by some amazing teacher.
I know that you will push the envelope, whatever you do, and it is in the true interest of learning, both your students’ and your own. And your incredible energy, enthusiasm, and insights will teach us all a few new things!
Clay & fellow responders,
I love the relationships I have with our school population - and as the sole librarian, I have some sort of contact with all 600+ students K-12.
Because I care about all of them, the educational inequity in the U.S. bothers me a great deal. Adjoining districts vary enormously in the curriculum and amenities they offer students due to demographics, property values, etc.
I don’t feel that the ill-conceived and counter-productive No Child Left Behind legislation addresses this problem.
The kids from rural America deserve the same chance to succeed as their wealthier suburban neighbors.
As a teacher, I can expose my students to some of what they’re missing, but I can’t overcome the huge technology gap.
I do impact individuals, but that’s not enough any more. Somehow I’ll turn my not-too-distant “retirement” into a more satisfying teaching adventure.
diane
As this post recedes into the new year, I want to add a snippet from a comment I left on Sean’s “Schools Needn’t Fail” post on Slam Teaching:
This post really was a toss-off - or maybe something that rolled so easily off the keyboard because we all feel it so regularly.
I really believe we can make an impact this year by sending political messages with the combined force of our Twitter networks, targeted campaigns against so many of the forces that frustrate us, etc.
That’s my constructive hope.
If teachers really want to make a difference, I believe that they can. So is belief the critical factor? If one has a true understanding regarding the framework within which we must work, and the potential for change, one can “chip away” and make a difference. The question is: “How do we make school essential and meaningful?” The issue is to keep teachers like Clay because when they stay, they make a difference. The challenge is to change the culture.
I agree with Will that it is difficult to make teaching look and feel as relevant as one’s own learning but I also wonder how many teachers think deeply about their own learning. Asking “How do I learn” “What does learning look like” “What tools do I use/need to learn” “What actions do I need to take to really learn” are the types of reflections that can lead to good teaching. First understanding how learning takes place and then understanding that not all individuals learn the same way … teaching and learning begin when the teacher asks these questions of the learner and then guides the learner towards learning. Certainly the frameworks are state standards and assessments but we have to stop letting them get in the way. I wonder how many teachers are reflective about their own learning…about their teaching…what comes first the chicken or the egg? How many teachers are reflective about how standards can be wrapped into a powerful, 21st century lesson? Into a meaningful assessment that reflects transfer of understanding? Reflective teachers who are passionate about learning can generally make it work …. Can often be a change agent in their own schools. Unfortunately sometimes good teachers create wonderful learning environments in their own classrooms but don’t push it out, don’t share it. Change will take place when partnerships are developed and grown – partnerships between good leaders and good teachers.
I agree that it will take a long time for schools to change…I believe the change happens with good leaders and modeling…(although Clay indicates some concern on this front) It needs to begin with a hard look at the world within which our students will need to be successful and a strong, unfaltering commitment on the part of school leaders to work toward the needed change and to refuse to accept mediocrity and resistance to change (not easy…)There must be an understanding that every action counts…if we as administrators don’t model learning, inquiry, thoughtful pondering, lofty goals and action plans, etc. how can we expect it in our classrooms? We are leaders need to know what is going on in our schools and need to celebrate best practices, encourage risk taking and growth. There must be an understanding that although input is critical there are some things that are non-negotiable. Why do we allow mediocrity in the classroom? We need to establish expectations and then be in the classrooms – not only to make sure what we say is happening but to provide support and an environment that makes it safe to take risks and try new things. Does it take time? Absolutely but if the passion exists, time becomes the friend not the enemy. Every small conversation, minor change, every time a teacher says “I’d like to try that”, you know that you are being to make a difference.
Those of us who have the passion need to change the culture; not give up and leave. That is the only way we are really going to create the types of schools that we claim to want. I have been in administration for several years and have had many days where I have wanted to give up…not because of how I am doing my job but because of the huge mountain that I feel like I am climbing. However, if I don’t climb the mountain, who will?
I love to teach. I have spend the last five years working with GT fifth graders whom most were really not GT. I loved every bit of it, but this year I am working as an Instructional Technology Coach in a middle School. Some days I miss the classroom passionately and other days I am so thankful. Now I am working at a dfferent end of education and teachers are very frustrating to work with. The Parable 2.0 that Graham wrote is so powerful. It is about my frustrations and my passion to be with kids again.
I working under a grant that must be renewed in May and then it will be renewed for two years. I know my goals clearly and I have my challenges. I am well accepted in the building, but I am like another list that has to be checked off every few weeks. Bill came to me on Monday and I am free for a few weeks. They see no connection between what I am doing and student learning. The principal has no real clue about what I am doing and since I have been at this school he has yet to present any clear vision for learning.
I have 8 more years before I retire. I want to be back with kids, but I am not sure I can mentally handle the challenge with all the accountability and fix this and blame me mentaility. I kn ow very well the fear of adminstratins, my own conscous, parents, collegues, district office, etc. The lack of innovation is schools is killing the system. Thanks for your post.
Jane, Bill, thank you both for your input.
Jane, we’ll see where the future takes things. I’m leaning towards working outside of the mainstream, but maybe it just means a richer educational gene pool will result for future species of education.
Bill, your account was both painful to read and admirable at the same time.
Feel free to join a more constructive conversation now in the “ideal alternative schools” post that follows this one?
It is strange how sometimes thoughts have a momentum of their own - your post has obviously struck a chord with many other educators around the world….. personally I have reached that watershed after 19 years in the profession and a kind of creeping frustration with the admin side of the job ( plus seeing the power of online collaboration)….. to be short I have thrown it all over to go off and help another organisation to teach teachers online……. 2008 the year of change.
Paul Harrington’s last blog post..5 Top Images from 2007
Clay, It seems to me we may be cut from the same cloth.
What are we waiting for? Let’s get started. There is a project I would love to hear your thoughts/ideas on.
PS- Go Ducks!
I’m one of the lucky ones. I’ve taught gifted kids K-6 for 25 years and there is rarely a day when I don’t want to go to work. People think that it’s the “gifted” kids that makes me like my job so much but they are wrong–at least in part.
Why am I lucky? I write all my own curriculum, I have the same kids every year, i don’t have to administer or prepare for standardized tests, I don’t have to use a basal reader or math textbook, my parents like me, my kids work hard, my kids use technology any time they need it, everyone learns something new every day (me included), the kids are kind to each other, I co-teach, I have a para professional to do prep tasks, if we need more time to finish we take it, if we need less time to learn something we move on to something else, the kids get to make sense of what they learn in a way that is meaningful to them, we work without interuption for 7 hours–no specials, no band, no choir, no chat and chew….all in all it’s a great job and I’m glad I get to do it for one more year. When I retire I will miss the kids but I will also miss the work–it’s good work. Hope you find your way…N.
…and another thing… I actually put A LOT of the blame for the state of our schools on the parents for putting up with what they put up with. (I was one–sent three boys through public schools) If I knew then what I know now I would have put up a bigger stink!! Many parents with kids in schools today just go along to get along—wonder what amazing things could happen for kids if parents banded together and spoke up for their kids, but sadly they don’t know what’s good for kids (or in many cases what’s actually going on in schools)
Here’s a very easy example to understand: Pretend you had a son who was LD and he was expected to read books 5 years off his reading level every single day in school. You would be pissed, but our gifted readers are asked to read books 5 years off their reading level all the time and parents never say a thing!! Oh, hellu…wake up.
Parents just expect things to be the same as it was for them. Maybe the next generation of parents will wake up and speak up.
Finished whining.
Nancy’s last blog post..Letter Pop
Thank you all for reminding me why I work at a charter school! I can challenge everything (heck, I’m expected to!). My history classes are becoming about inquiry. I’m learning how to teach, finally, from lurking around blogs such as this one, and Will’s, and Darren Kuropatwa’s. I can’t imagine what those guys could accomplish with some actual freedom in the classroom!
I love to teach…now. I would like to leave and really feel that unless the structure that schools operate under change, then the schools themselves can’t change. It is great to see that we are not alone and to read the posts of others here.
I could probably hang in there as I am affecting some change to students and to the school environment. But I can’t help but feel sad at those students who appreciate what we do and how their eyes will glaze over next year. Imagine how they and the educators themselves could grow in a different learning environment.
Louise Maine’s last blog post..A real model?
@Nancy: My goodness, what heaven did your school fall from? The same students for more than one year, no bell-demolished learning flows, self-directed learning, and a teacher’s aide to boot? What, I wonder, are the challenges and shortcomings you experienced even in the midst of such a great set-up, if any? What tweaks would you make for any shortcomings in student learning in such a system?
@J. Scott: Well there’s a vote for charter schools, isn’t it? Any links or further input on the strengths of your school? I’m all ears.
@Louise: You put your finger on the issue of hiring and staffing that runs throughout this thread. It points back to the need for precluding the trainwreck that happens due to the uninspir-ed/-ing links in the teaching chain. And that points back to administrative hiring practices. Jeff Utecht has an interesting post about that, with an interesting comment thread, going on right now.
And @Nancy, I have to underscore your fingering of parents as one more slice of the dysfunctional pie. Now the question I have is: How can we use Web 2.0 to reach out to them to try to generate thought about all this, and pressure for change from their quarters?
I think it would be neat if blogs had threaded discussion capabilities (like ning or Moodle) then you could comment specifically to one responder.
I teach in a state mandated, special education program for gifted (top 1%) elementary students. It is a pullout program that students attend one day a week. I really have no complaints about the time I have with my learners. The problem is that many of these kids only get what they need one day a week, the other four days they are resigned to working 2-4 years below their capabilities. It might some as a surprise to many people that gifted kids are the ones who learn the least new material everyday and 20% of gifted high schools drop out.
In a perfect world each child would be able to learn and make sense of the materials on their own level, at their own rate and product in their own style. That doesn’t happen often; I’ve taught gifted kids for 25 years and I have seen NO improvement in the elementary regular classroom for our brightest kids. NCLB has made it even worse with the focus on review and preparing for high stakes tests. No time is left for high interest science or social studies discussions. In my district students in the classroom are researching, writing and using technology less than they did 5 years ago. (discussion for another time!) I’m not surprised when one of my families chose to send their child to private school or homeschool them.
How do we affect change in parents? Yikes , too hard. I find, even though I’m really candid with my parents (especially since I might have their child for 4 or 5 years) I refrain from badmouthing regular ed. Many of my parents are frustrated but don’t want to make waves—so they go along to get along. Let me know when you get this whole “new” school problem sussed out. N.
Nancy’s last blog post..What’s On Your Bookshelf?
http://www.sturgischarterschool.com
http://www.jscottib.blogspot.com
http://www.jscottus.blogspot.com
The video clip on the first link is a good intro to who we are and what we do. The other two are for my classes, and are most definitely works-in-progress. I’ve been trying since BLC ‘07 last July to implement what I learned. I feel like I’m getting closer, but it’s a series of baby steps.
@J.Scott: thanks for the links. It’s always baby steps, I think. Crawl, walk, run, fly - with lots of bumps, falls, collisions, crashes
“Fall down eight times, stand up nine” - Confucius
Good post and discussion. I’ve worked in video and corporate jobs for the last 13 years. While I’ve seen, created, and teach some interesting things for companies, I’ve also been thoroughly bored with the projects and environments I’ve worked in. I know that there is no magic bullet, but I’ve always had the desire to teach high school. For me, teaching adults has been the most rewarding part of my job, but in the corporate setting, it became old and stale quickly. I still do it and create communications, but sitting and working in a cubicle for much of my job has left me utterly bored. Regardless of how challenging the project, how nice and good my coworkers are, how much I have going on outside of work, it’s still a chore to go to my desk in the morning. I know teachers who love their jobs and although they dislike the workload, they love the classroom. Being able to talk to actual people and help at least some of them is a great duty. I think, though, that we also need some change in our lives. Some teachers really need to take a break or leave after some time with it. I know that I feel I need a change after 13 years of cube life. Good luck to all of you.
Clay,
Your post resonates with me more strongly than I can express. I want so strongly to say yes, Yes! There are places where one can leave behind the “daily farce” and yet make a powerful difference in young people’s lives. For the past ten years, after spending a short time as a high school teacher, I have enjoyed a type of school that lets me teach, and — more importantly — lets kids be who they are.
As president of the Center for Advancing Sudbury Education (www.empoweringchildren.org), I invite you and all your readers to check out this unusually humane and effective approach to education. Sudbury schooling must become a part of our national dialogue on the purpose and future of education.
@BRUCE,
I’m so happy you’re here. I’ve wanted to learn more about Sudbury Schools since discovering Danny Mydlack’s Voices from the New American Schoolhouse documentary on YouTube over a year ago.
In fact, if you put “Sudbury” in the search on my sidebar, you’ll find a good number of posts.
Please say yes to an invitation to interview with me on Skype. I’ll podcast it here, if you do. I have many, many questions.
Clay,
Thanks so much for your quick and enthusiastic reply. I’m glad to have found my way here, and would be very glad to chat with you via Skype.
Ask away!!
Clay,
I love how you tagged this post with citizenship 2.0. I’m going on my 3rd, and last, year teaching in the S. Bronx. By participating in a clearly dysfunctional system, am I somehow perpetuating the problem? Am I complicit by being a teacher?
I am working on a new educational model (www.affectedclapping.net), which would never have taken off if not for my experiences teaching, however.
Lee’s last blog post..Teaching Teachers: We Sure Can be Stubborn (Especially with Tech.)
Thank you Clay for this insightful post and for everyone’s thoughtful comments.
It gave me a new perspective of looking at the dilemma of formal schooling from the teachers’ perspective.
On another note, though I realize that the students’ side of the story has commonly been elaborated in the many discourses on the subject, if I were to rewrite Clay’s post from that side, here’s how it would probably look like:
——————————————————-
~ On Leaving Studying to Become Students | Beyond Schools ~
More and more I wonder: is school a good place for students to learn what matters for their lives and to the future of the world?
Is there a way to leave the daily farce of classes, tests, homeworks, rigid schedule and uninspired teachers within the framework of a grade-oriented curriculum with little relevance for leading a good life, and one geared more to conform with the flawed value/social-political-and-economic systems of our world rather than teach us how our life can leave a far more positive mark in the world?
I’m thinking yes. I’m quite sure I no longer want to study in schools, though some rare breed of school can surely help me in my studies. All in all, I’d rather study by myself and with others, beyond schools.
———————————————————
I’ve found a wonderful home for that we call the internet, and would love to see it’s many characteristics and tools for learning incorporated more systematically in formal schooling at all level.
I also long for a day when studying through formal schooling can reflect a UNESCO publication I read a while ago called “Learning - the Treasure Within”, and other more progressive views on how schools should be. And perhaps, have schools change to reflect a yet-to-be-invented English word that means both teaching and learning.
Not sure how this adds to this wonderful post and discussion, but was just wanting to put my thoughts down here.
Best wishes and be well,
Bowo
Wibowo Sulistio’s last blog post..What is Sustainability?
@Wibowo: I love the riff, and play similar ones myself habitually in this space as pretty much an obligato.
But what I find distressing is that students, by the time they reach the last years of high school, are so conditioned to be students, they resist the freedom to learn when offered it.
In any case, thanks a million for the very thoughtful addition to this thread.
Hi Clay,
I came to the Asian Region to take up a teaching position in 2005 and found myself in a similar position in terms of having to leave with what little sanity I had left after a year of being a square peg in a round hole. I had gone from a shifting school with a 1:1 program and a curriculum being reveiwed to allow for a constructivist approach to a school that had an incredibly rigid curriculum and no room for personalised learning.
Two and a half years later, I am spending my days working with educators and supporting them to try to make a difference in the lives of their students, often through the carefully thought out use of technology in the classroom. To put it simply, I love what I do on a daily basis and feel that I am beginning to make a real difference.
It is not all good, however. I struggle to develop a model to ensure that I make a living out of what I do. I find myself selling hardware and software in addition to working with teachers as many schools in this region have a problem getting over the fact that you are a classroom consultant yet you are not with a University. The “Master and his disciple” model is still quite a dominant one in this region. Only yesterday I had to listen to a university academic tell a K-12 school what they should do in remodelling a school for 21st Century Learning. I had to bite my tongue many times, especially when I heard all about the RFID system for the library and the Video conferencing equipment with very little in the way of support for teachers and kids in the classrooms. (Good thing it was in Cantonese!)
I look forward to hearing more of what you do in the future. It is not “easy” but it is enormously satisfying.
Aim high!
Cheers
Paul
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