The first day of class -April 2008

My first class in the Teacher Certification program was last night. I have to admit to a small case of nerves, coupled with excitement. It is strange being back in school after so long away. I took American history the past two quarters at EVCC, which helped ease the transition, I think. It was exciting to be in a group of people who share the same goals and outlook on life.
One of the first slides that was put up was very thought provoking. It listed the lenses to view children and education through: developmental, psychological, pedagogical, politically, historical, social, economic, cultural, and ethical/moral. I found myself nodding at many of them because they are things I have seen in classrooms and with kids I know. I have been thinking more about how much and how little control a teacher has over their classroom. On the one hand they are with the kids in their class for so many hours each day, 5 days a week, 9 months out of the year. In my own children I see how their views, habits, actions are influenced by their teacher’s views, thoughts and actions. It is an amazing amount of power invested in a single person. I can remember teachers I had, and things they said to me that are still with me 30 years later. It is a daunting thought that you can have so much influence and that you can make such a difference in a child’s life -- if it is done the right way. It is doubly daunting that it is so easy to misinterpret something and possibly cause much damage to a child unintentionally.
On the other hand, despite the amount of time spent with their students each day, there is also a great deal that is out of their control. I am aware of all the district, state and federal requirements that teachers must follow. I am torn about whether these things are needed or not. By having these requirements, the goal is that every child, no matter where they live, no matter what their background, they should receive the same basic education. It sounds good in theory. In practice, it is much more difficult to enact. There are too many variables in children for it to be easy to follow through on.

April 2, 2008
Last night I started reading William Ayers book To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher. One thing that jumped out at me was the paragraph about being asked why you want to be a teacher, with the implication being that it is beneath your skill or intelligence. That really hit home for me because that is exactly what my father’s reaction was. Especially when I told him my ideal age to teach would be kindergarten. His response was something like “why can’t you at least teach high school and put your brains and degree to use.” He also doesn’t understand why I would work somewhere that doesn’t pay as well as much as I could be making elsewhere, or what the appeal of working with young children are. All you do is “ talk baby talk and wipe noses all day” .
I don’t know that I will ever be able to sway his opinion of teachers and schools. He is very negative about his view of both. He feels that they are not part of the real world. He argues that teachers pay should be tied to their students test scores, and that tenure should be done away with all together, and that the parents should pay for their own children’s education rather than his taxes paying for it. I love my father, I respect my father, and disagree with him on just about every political issue there is. I tease him that he is so far to the right that he is in danger of circling back around the left. I am unsure of how many of his comments he really believes, and how many he just tosses out there to get my sister and I stirred up and debating with him. I suspect the latter in some instances, but the very fact that he tosses some of these comments out there is evidence that people are thinking about them.
When my sister, brother and I were young, of course he didn’t feel that taxpayers shouldn’t pay for everyone’s education. He benefited from that, as I have pointed out to him. I have also pointed out that it is in his best interest to have a well educated youth because their taxes will be supporting him in his old age, and they will become the doctors, nurses, bankers, shop keepers and upstanding society members he will be relying on in the years to come. The money issue is a definite problem in schools. It is hard to run a school without the proper funds.
My own children’s school district, Snohomish, just had a bond fail. I was the citizen representative for our school, and so I coordinated parents from our school to send postcards, make phone calls, educate and encourage people to vote. It was very frustrating when it got 57% of the vote, yet it still failed because it didn’t get the super majority needed to pass. We were asking for money to build new schools and update some old ones, improve technology and set up a fund for capital repairs (roofs,etc). I don’t know if I have the energy –both physically and emotionally, to start all over and try again, and I am a small cog in the machine to get this passed. I can imagine what the large cogs are going through. We have to try again, but how to convince people it is important. We have a middle school that was built for 500, currently has 850 and is projected to hold over 1200 in 3-4 years, just based on the current students in the district. It is obvious that we need to do something, yet no one wants to part with their money to support this.
People complain about the test scores not improving enough, but don’t realize that the physical comforts of the school, the environment of the school and the safety of the school is all part of the students being able to learn. Overcrowding of schools is something that needs to be dealt with.

But I digress.