To Sir with Love

Mr. Holland's Opus

 Dead Poet's Society

TV: Welcome Back Kotter

In all of these, one lone teacher is reaching students in spite of the cold beauracracy and societal pressure surrounding him/her. So often, that's how teachers feel.

When a school becomes a supportive community instead of a battlefield, both teachers and students win. So do school districts. This conference was all about helping us to use data to teach better.

Another interesting metaphor was used. School, Dufour asserted, can be

Darwin schools

Only the smartest and best survive. The others die off by natural selection (or teacher selection.) Losers are identified and deleted from the system or not pursued when they get discouraged and drop out.

Pontius Pilate schools

Teachers teach; kids are supposed to learn. If they don't, we wash our hands of them.

Chicago Cub schools

No one is achieving highly, but the stands are packed, the beer is flowing, and we all feel good about the game even if we aren't winning.

 Henry Higgins Schools

Kids will learn because of the fantastic teacher in spite of the raw material.

None of these, Dufour says, really maximize teacher and student potential. In general, there is not a set of 12 steps that makes a good school. But steps can be taken to identify and use best practices--those strategies that result in measurable achievement.

 After conference leaders talked up the general idea of cooperative community, there were break out sessions detailing how to plan to teach more kids more stuff, and to do it better. They made it seem doable.

Most of us barely have time to dream up lesson plans let alone work together. But they gave us forms and ideas and showed how to carve out time for teamwork that would help a school become more effective.

The fact is, teachers who feel like failures go to other schools. They may  even jump the sinking ship for another profession. Teaching is hard. We need support. We need praise.

Another far-reaching idea (but so obvious, duh) after pointed out was that most schools identify great teachers by picking ONE teacher of the year for recognition. What about the other professionals who had a break-through? Who showed up on time every day? Who got a kid to stay in school and pass?

Similarly, out of a whole school we recognize a valedictorian and a salutatorian. They suggested recognizing students most improved every week~praising baby steps, not just top scores. We need to give more kids reasons to try just a little harder.

This last year, one of my favorite colleagues left us and went to another school. She'll make more money and maybe get to work with a team of other teachers who, she hopes, will help her feel more confident about her effectiveness. I felt so sad for her. She's a great teacher, a hard worker, but the TAKS scores hit her hard. She just felt like she had to teach too many grades (6th, 7th, and 8th) and couldn't focus her strategies. I know teachers will move from time to time--I probably will myself. But when a teacher relocates, it shouldn't be because they were hanging on the the ledge by fingernails and couldn't do it any more.

Last year, we were just starting to become a PLC. My principal has made great efforts to provide us with more support, and I think we'll get there eventually. I hope that was the last teacher we lost because of lonliness and frustration.