Many teachers aren?t feeling much love this Teacher Appreciation Day. But I still believe it is possible to be a good teacher in America ? and worth the effort to try. The shift toward data-driven instruction and innovation creates an environment where the 'hacker generation' can thrive.
Florida's Gov. Rick Scott speaks to students and teachers at Wynnebrook Elementary School in West Palm Beach, Fla., May 6 as part of a tour to promote the legislature's passage of a $1 billion increase in education spending. Op-ed contributor and science teacher Lindsay Wells says 'if we all encourage smart, idealistic youth to give teaching a try (and get properly trained), our country is bound to see more positive results.'
J Pat Carter/AP
EnlargeToday marks Teacher Appreciation Day in the United States, but it?s fair to say many teachers ? veterans and newcomers alike ? aren?t feeling much appreciation lately.
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Nearly half of all teachers leave the profession within the first five years. Recently, two veteran teachers ? Gerald Conti in New York and Randy Turner in Missouri ??have decided to call it quits with recent public resignations on Facebook and in the Huffington Post. Their high-profile statements speak to their frustration and disillusionment with teaching.
Both of their resignations contain numerous unfortunate truths about the challenges facing today?s public school teachers. I have been teaching high school science for five years and I, too, have experienced the stress and devaluation they describe so poignantly. Despite this, I still believe it is possible to be a good teacher in America ? and worth the effort to try. What?s more, the shift toward data-driven instruction and innovation is creating an environment where the ?hacker generation? can thrive.
To understand why American public education is in such a state of turmoil, one need only consider how much the end goal of education has shifted since the late 1800s when our current system was put into place. We are no longer preparing just a tiny percentage of students for college and high-skill careers and expecting the rest to be ready for industrial, low-skill jobs.
Tony Wagner reports in his book, ?The Global Achievement Gap,? that employers are dissatisfied with many recent graduates? lack of critical thinking, communication, and teamwork skills, in addition to their inability to think in the kinds of creative and innovative ways the current economy requires. The initial design of American schools and teaching methods has largely become obsolete, and as a result, everyone is casting about for solutions.
This is exactly why I feel that I got into the profession just as it?s starting to get interesting. While negative attitudes toward teachers don?t make it easy for us to have our voices heard, it is critical for teachers to continue to elbow their way into the debate about how to redesign public education in this country.?
Ideally, the US education system?s top priority would be to foster wonder, creativity, inquisitiveness, and love of learning in every child. Teachers would be empowered to use curriculum that showed students the relevance and real-world applications of what they?re learning. Schools would recognize many ways of being intelligent, and would reward students for pooling their intellectual resources, and for thinking outside the box.
Standards (and assessments of students? progress toward meeting them) would require that students engage in the practices of professionals in their discipline, rather than memorization of facts and ideas removed from any context. (An encouraging move in this direction is the Next Generation Science Standards.)
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