Making a Difference

Have you heard of ASCD? [“ASCD is a membership organization that develops programs, products, and services essential to the way educators learn, teach, and lead.”] I receive their magazine “Educational Leadership” monthly. At the end of the magazine, there is a section called, “Tell Me About A Time…” where readers (just like us!) can write in on specific topics. So, of course, I did!

The topic was: Making a Difference

Ask educators why they went into teaching, and the majority will respond that they wanted to make a difference in the lives of young people. That initial idealism, however, is often challenged by the realities of heavy workloads, classroom discipline problems, and bureaucratic demands. For this issue, we welcome stories from (and about) individual educators and teams of educators striving to make a measurable difference—for example, by building meaningful relationships or designing innovative programs that helped students overcome challenges, raising academic achievement, supporting students’ emotional and physical health and safety, building partnerships with parents, advocating for education reform, or empowering their students to make a difference.

Here’s my thoughts:

I agree that I went into teaching because I wanted to make a difference. I would argue, however, that I not only wanted to make a difference in the lives of young people, but also in the lives of adults. I share my personal story (multiple times and then some) on my blog, but I think I should update it to include my new found passion: coaching teachers- making an impact on adult educators. If we only make an impact on the young, we miss so many people along the way that could gain effectiveness and thus have a bigger impact on those that they come into contact with.

I also agree that the reality of teaching is in conflict with my original ideal of what life on the job would be like. I thought I would spend all my time teaching and changing lives, but really I spend 90% on behind-the-scenes tasks and 10% teaching. I never realized how much work happens before a teacher even steps in front of their students. At times, I felt like a secretary spending all of my time responding to parent emails, writing newsletters, and taking attendance. At other times, I felt like I was a professional meeting attendee, where I literally sat for hours taking in the latest professional development knowledge mandated from my school and district. Lately, though, I felt more like a facilitator who helped students learn by never teaching. (Strange concept, I know!) I magically imparted knowledge by placing students in centers, checking in on them 1:1 and then pulling a small group for no longer than 20 minutes to share “a little something.” Teaching was beginning to not look so magical after all; mainly because I was rarely even teaching. Then when new evaluation systems rolled out, every teacher was dropped to the bottom of the barrel and had to “prove” their way to the top. Being a teacher is exhausting, from administrative tasks to proving your worth and to.. oh yea… teaching! With all of that said, teaching is very rewarding and that 10% in front of students makes up for the 90% of behind-the-scenes dread.

The good news is that this stress is what weeds out educators; only the strong remain.(See more here.) Those strong educators forge on and continue to make not only an impact in their very own classrooms, but in their school buildings and districts too. I have posted about a few things I have done to raise student achievement, build partnerships with parents, and advocate for educational reform:

Raising Academic Achievement– See my posts on exit tickets, technology integration, student-led writing conferences, student dialogue on personal perspectives and opinions, student-led book club, brain breaks, and giving up my control in the classroom to students .

I also had to pleasure of learning from an expert in the field of literacy in my district to not only help my own students achieve higher gains, but all those in classrooms whose teachers I mentored; see that post here.

Building Partnerships with Parents – See my post on parental instincts, child entitlement, children that grow up to be children, parental involvement, Remind 101 technology tool and independent children.

Advocating for Education Reform– See my posts on improving education, readicide and on how students became the smartest kids in the world.

What you can see here is a teacher who not only loves what she does, but will do what it takes to ensure her students succeed academically, including advocating for educational reform and building partnerships with parents.  A lot of what I implemented into my classroom came from ideas from others. Teaching is not a one-man show. You need to collaborate with experts and share your knowledge with those around you. I love to read and learn so books as well as professional development have allowed me to gain the knowledge I need to be successful in the classroom for the benefit of my students. I am so thankful for all the experts I met along the way to spark creativity inside me to create the situations posted about above.

Come be part of the movement- Make A Difference!

What have you done in your own classroom to raise student achievement, build partnerships with parents or advocate for educational reform?