"I Can't See Myself Doing Anything But Teaching"

As of late, we've been rather fortunate in our Ed-Pscyh Monday evening lectures, in having fine members of the Decorah educational community joining us. That trend continued last Monday with three teachers from the Decorah public schools responding to a question-answer session. All three had different teaching backgrounds, but all three explicitly said they couldn't imagine themselves not teaching.

This is truly admirable. I'm sure that with a little self-reflection, I would be able to see that (subconsciously) one of my reasons for wanting to teach was probably in having great teachers who were really passionate about what they're doing. Passion and preparation on the part of the teacher leads to wholesome learning and genuine enthusiasm from students.

However, towards the end of the session, I was tempted to ask them a question a long these lines: Do you ever think that you could do more, or make more of a difference, if you were in a different position? From the perspective of a student who had heard the other groups come to speak their part about education, it was interesting to hear these current teachers say they couldn't imagine doing anything else. A few weeks earlier, the administrators from Decorah told us they hadn't ever thought about doing administrative work before an opportunity was presented to them. The younger teachers told us how they had to take on 2nd (or even 3rd!) jobs to help pay off college loans, get a little ahead in the financial world, and to keep themselves busy. The administrators admitted that the increase in salary was certainly not a deterring factor in their decision to move from their teaching post.

So, as honorable a profession as teaching may be (in what way could you alter and improve the lives of young people more immediately?), are there better or more broad-sweeping ways that one could help forward the education of young people? Teachers, of course, will never be replaceable, but it's likely that the efforts of school administrators or those individuals who progress education legislation go unnoticed. So when teachers say, "I Can't See Myself Doing Anything But Teaching," because they always want to help kids, maybe they should consider what other ways, outside the scope of being a teacher, they could actuate a positive impact.

Yes, I whole-heartedly want to be a teacher once my time at Luther College is up. But discussing educational legislation (NCLB), reviewing new data on successful teaching methods and strategies, and the consistent bad news that test scores in America are falling below more and more other countries, has forced a realization in me that maybe my efforts might be placed best elsewhere. Education Reform. Although the young academic world likely has strong and capable advocates working on our behalf, I feel that the lack of significant improvement is evidence that their efforts aren't completely successful. There are so many factors working against minimally (let alone profoundly) changing the public education system in America, and much of the stigma against change is held in societal norms, which is extremely hard to modify. But this is why we must work even harder to fix the system, to keep our graduates marketable in an ever-shrinking world.

So some teachers "...Can't See (themselves) Doing Anything But Teaching."
- I can definitely see myself teaching, but I can also see myself making a difference for my students by working to improve the system determining their success.

No Child Left Behind: The Good, The Bad, and the Test Scores

Our Ed Psych class recently had the opportunity to host some guests, in welcoming administrators from the Decorah school district. The preceding topic of discussion in class had been the pros and cons of No Child Left Behind, and what that meant for future teachers.

One issue that repeatedly came up was the focus No Child Left Behind places on test scores. While most teachers would give you their two cents worth (probably not two thumbs up!) when it comes to No Child Left Behind, administrators will do their administrative duty and defend the commands from their higher-ups from the state and federal educational agencies. In our lecture with the administrators from Decorah, I knew they would defend NCLB (as it is their duty), but I was surprised to sense some genuine support coming from these two. Both having come from some form of teaching experience, they see the legitimacy in teachers complaints that some of the standards presented by NCLB are setting students, teachers, and schools up for failure. However well-intentioned the politicians and educational lobbyists who pushed for this national education reform were, there are bound to flaws in any such legislation. Despite NCLB''s pitfalls, it has introduced us to what seems will become a hugely important factor in making decisions about education: analyzing hard data.

Although many teachers and dissidents may credibly argue that relying nearly completely on test score results for making decisions may be foolish, not recognizing the implications or importance of hard data would be a rather brash dismissal. The single point that seem to repeat itself during the question & answer session with our guests was the importance of analyzing data.

There are new studies being published all the time, and as long as these research projects are done scientifically and non-biased, they offer amazing potential ideas for improving educational methods and systems. The administrators (and the school board members who graced us with their presence a week later) let us know how much of their current time is centered around analyzing the new data they see.

In a technology-driven, instant gratification world, it's important to quickly integrate new ideas and utilize information efficiently. Like the cliché goes, "Knowledge is Power." Or as the education world is now, DATA is Power!