School Talk

Tonight is Back to School Night for us, and it's gotten me thinking about being a parent one day and what expectations I will have both for my child(ren) and their teachers. I witness the struggle between letting students navigate their way through the very hormonal world of 6th grade vs. sticking up for them with peers, coaches, teachers, etc. on a day to day basis. I've talked parents through difficult situations at the wee hours of the night, I've sat through tearful meetings, and I've stayed up at night worrying about students myself. It's all par for the course, and I feel content knowing that my students have a teacher who cares for their well-being just as much (if not more than) their academic success. I can't tell you one thing that I remember from 4th grade math class, but man can I tell you about the life lesson that I learned when I changed the colored stickers on Mr. Huffer's rubik's cube with some friends - yeah, never pulling a stunt like that again.

Anyways, I think just like parenting, people become very defensive when it comes to teaching, particularly because there are so many different avenues through which students are learning and going to school these days. My response? If you're genuinely invested in your teaching job and your students, more power to ya. I don't care if you're earning twice as much as I am, if you have a PhD, if you work alongside the best coworkers ever - if you're teaching and students are learning, we're on the same team (remember our pep talk from the Kid President? we're all on the same team!).  It bothers me when people get into debates over different types of education (homeschooling, charter schools, tele-schooling), because at the end of the day everyone is doing what works best for them, whether it's as a teacher, parent, administrator, or student.

One of the big debates in these alternative options is over Teach for America. To be honest, I'm not informed enough to speak confidently on the matter. I've had friends that have done TFA and I've read books about it from both sides, but I just don't know enough about the culture to have an opinion one way or the other.  The fact of the matter is, even people who have done TFA are split over it.  HERE is a really interesting read from The Atlantic about one person's experience with it in Atlanta. One thing I will say that struck me as I was reading the article.....even if you are part of the TFA corps are are living by their mantras, you are still part of a much larger school community that is controlled by administrators at that specific school. I've quickly realized how much an administration team determines the dynamic and tone for an individual school, and I feel fortunate to have administrators who are incredibly supportive of our staff day in and day out.


Here are two other articles from the Atlantic regarding education that caught my attention....

The Great Homework Debate - something we deal with all.the.time. What's the answer? Let me know if you discover it!


The Case Against High School Sports - as someone who rowed competitively for four years in high school (All-Met senior year!) and was up at 4:30am most mornings, I have mixed feelings on this one. I wouldn't trade my experience for anything in the world, but I have vivid memories of my teachers picking my head up off of my desk because I was so sleep deprived.  Would I have had a higher GPA if I had spent my rowing time studying? Probably. I hadn't considered how incredibly immersed we are in high school sports as a country until I read this article. The $$$$ point is an interesting one, too.


And lastly, a really lovely piece of advice from Cup of Jo.