School Community

I get some wonderful e-mails from teachers that speak to their commitment to the profession and to their students.

This is one of them:

On occasion, I find myself reading the blogs, articles found on the AJC under your byline. As a teacher , I feel it is important to not only stay informed but to garner every scrap of information to help me formulate opinions that are logical and can be substantiated. One brief thought: Exemplary college programs should be designated to train our future teachers. I could go on at length here, but the gist is, if you graduate from an educational program that has “exemplary status” you start your first teaching job at a higher salary than other graduates. In a nutshell, these programs would have higher admission requirements, more hands-on training and instruction, and perhaps even a built in graduate program under the tutelage of “master teachers.”  With the promise of higher salaries, the field becomes more competitive and not just something to major in because  ” it is easy.”

There are so many great young future teachers out there. Let’s get them in programs that prepare them for the complexities of the profession and then pay them for their exceptionalities. So many teachers  are not prepared, and to be honest, have such limited abilities, that they are not able to facilitate instruction in a rigorous environment.

Additionally, I continue to struggle with the time constraints of the profession. I understood the nature of the teaching prior to entering it. I look at the hours I spend without compensation as my “volunteer hours” as I am no longer able to commit to the programs of community service as I did before entering the profession. However, there are just not enough hours to meet the demands of those “best practices” that are the foundation of quality instruction. Data accumulation, aggregation, and dissemination add a whole new dimension to the job, and I find myself prioritizing expectations starting with those that I feel impact my students the most. The number priority is  the establishment of a relationship with the parent/guardian of each of my students, particularly those who are at risk.

I teach middle school, so at some point during the year they are all at risk! This takes an enormous amount of time, but bottom line, once the team of parent-student-teacher is established, the instruction in the classroom becomes paramount. I teach at a Title 1 school, and for the first time in my life, I am not able to meet the expectations of my superiors. Why? I will not allow myself to work more than 11 hours each day and 5 on the weekend. The time factor is another component that must be addressed to insure academic excellence in the classroom.

Give me time to prepare the lesson, differentiate for students, assess and then reteach those skills not mastered. And, I will do all of this rigorously, making it relevant through the relationships I establish with my students. I just want to teach…..

–From Maureen Downey for the AJC Get Schooled blog

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