Georgia teacher: ‘I still love teaching, but that is not what I feel I am doing’

I would love to see an innovative district that puts power back in the classroom. A district that believes and trusts the educators to hone their craft, to grow, to use anything and everything to reach all their students because these programs do not.

I do not say any of this lightly. I used to love teaching. I was passionate, and positive. I still love teaching, but that is not what I feel I am doing. I am towing the line, following the prescription and I am seeing the results, and they are not good.

Credit: Con

Credit: Con

First, all the fun has been sucked out of the classroom. There are strict timelines for everything which, if you know anything about children, it is not how they function and thrive in an academic environment. Teachable moments used to be commonplace, even if it took an extra five minutes. It helped to build passion for learning in children. Allowing time for questioning and making connections is essential for meaningful learning. Studies on long-term memory bear out the fact that for information to be retained, there must be an emotional reaction/connection. Children thrive when they are active and engaged, which is how we used to teach everything to mastery or at least as much as possible. Now, the curriculum moves so fast and provides a shallow understanding of concepts as opposed to mastery and then moves on. This is called “spiraling” because the curriculum touches on the standard in each grade and rapidly moves on, but we are not building solid foundations in the primary years and this creates a shaky understanding and has ripple effects later.

Many children I work with are still struggling with addition and subtraction and really would not if more time was taken and they had the opportunity to question, explore and practice on a regular basis. I’m not saying to throw the baby out with the bathwater, which so commonly happens in education. Structure is good but the method of simply “sitting & getting” is antiquated and it seems as if we are moving further backward than ever before. Stations with learning games were used, role playing, team work on projects and working out an answer to a problem. These activities not only teach academics, but social skills and problem solving.

Why have we moved so far from this method when it has been proven successful? I have letters from parents that literally read, “Thank you for giving me my child back!” I used to search for methods to reach all children and there is no cookie-cutter curriculum or method. We do not need a script for everything. It demoralizes teachers and makes them feel more like trained monkeys. Why go to college if someone is simply going to hand you a script and tell you not to waver from it?

Secondly, why aren’t teachers happy? It seems that people at the “top” — district office — have forgotten what it is like on the ground or they were not in a classroom long enough to fully understand nor remember. No one becomes an expert without doing anything for at least 10,000 hours or 10 years (see Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers”). There are people who were in a classroom for three seconds not only writing curriculum but evaluating teachers and telling them how and what to do. Teachers used to power learning from the classroom, and they felt they were valued and validated. Stipends were offered for teachers who wished to write lessons for others to utilize but you were also given autonomy to use them as you saw fit for your individual classroom needs.

A classroom is not a homogeneous place in any school. We deal with a variety of learners. Teachers are a little bit parent, nurse, social worker and educator. We have moved so far away from relationship building and that is what fueled me as an educator. My students always knew I loved them — even when I was hard on them — because I had a relationship with them. I knew what was going on at home, what hobbies they had, what they feared, how they dealt with stress and what they aspired to. They need to know you care before they care about what you are teaching. Professional developments no longer excite teachers to go back and try what they learned but depress them and it feels more like “one more thing” or yet another program or “thing” the district wants to try.

Finally, many of the behaviors we are seeing are the result of kids sitting and going through PowerPoints in elementary school and then sitting at computers or in small groups where more prescribed lessons are given. There is little to no emotion or connection. Where did the hands-on learning experiences go? Why are the lessons so dry? Where are all the teamwork and projects that children take so much pride in? These are all valuable and have merit and, yes, even in reading and math where the lessons just get more awful as time goes on. Let the teachers teach, let the kids be kids. It used to be elementary teachers were bubbly, light, very externally passionate about their craft, but sadly no more. They walk around very rarely smiling and counting the days down early in the year. How sad.

I really don’t know if anyone will take heed. But I am tired of listening to the people I work with who, if given the freedom to hone their craft and grow, could be absolute magic in their classrooms, if given the latitude. Instead, they are anxious about people always coming in, judgment from above and test scores. A child is more than a test score and a teacher is more than a robot. Education can be rigorous and focused while simultaneously fun and engaging. I know, I’ve done it!

I believe that if administrators would fight for the autonomy of their teachers it would be a great start. Someone must be brave enough to stand up and say enough already. Teachers go to school to get a degree to teach because they are passionate about it. Give them the autonomy to display their knowledge without “coaches” or whomever coming in every other day to be sure they are on script, on schedule and towing the party line. I’m not saying that some oversight isn’t needed, but a script for everything we do is not called for.

I love to teach but if someone doesn’t start fighting for teachers the shortage is only going to become more of a problem. I have had some amazing administrators who wholeheartedly supported me and fought back when something came down from on high that would squelch the fire that burns in most that enter this profession. I hold them in high regard and respect them, but for some reason unbeknownst to me that doesn’t happen anymore. I am not sure if it is fear of reprisal, lack of spirit or simple complacency, but something needs to give or we are going to end up with a lot more unhappy, unfulfilled teachers and uninspired students.

Robin McCannon is a teacher at Lake Forest Elementary School in Fulton County. She has 29 years experience in all grades K-5 as a homeroom teacher.