Skip to main content

If I were in charge...

Schools are funny places.

They are regulated by bells,
and separated by subject areas.  

Cubicles of varying sizes house 24 children and at least one adult, 
sometimes more of each.  

If you're lucky there is a narrow window in each cubicle to let in some sunlight; 
we don't want children to be distracted by the outdoors, now do we?  

If you're a child, you can't eat, drink, or go to the washroom without asking for permission.
  
If you are a teacher you may as well forget it.

And, yet we stay with it.

Keep at it.

Try again.

Take a deep breath and hope for the best.

Love the children.

Take extra classes.

Attend workshops, 
especially if they're free;
we would have to pay out of our own pocket if they weren't.

What other profession does that?

And, what other profession prepares everyone else to excel at theirs?
And, we do.
Excel I mean.
It's time to shout it in the world.

I love being a teacher.

I don't love the restrictions.
And, if I were in charge of the school...
you know what I would do.
   

Comments

Jaana said…
This was fun to read! Thanks for sharing!
elsie said…
When can you take over? Please?
Unknown said…
Thanks Jaana for the encouragement. And Elsie, let's plan to do a massive takeover of our classrooms and our schools asap. It would be an Occupy our Classrooms and Schools movement. I'm game.

Popular posts from this blog

The Reading Strategies Book - Chapter 12, Supporting Students’ Conversations – Speaking, Listening, and Deepening Comprehension

The strategy lessons highlighted in Chapter 12, Supporting Students’ Conversations – Speaking, Listening, and Deepening Comprehension, in The Reading Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo are critical to students’ engagement and comprehension, as well as their ability to write literary essays, or even book reviews, summaries and reflective pieces about books. If students aren’t able to talk about books in a way that is invigorating and joyful, they will be less likely to develop an interest in growing ideas for writing about books. In her introduction to this chapter, Jennifer Serravallo, reminds us that when conversations go well, children are inspired by what they read and are motivated to keep reading. However, when conversations fall flat, then kids get bored and tune out. How do we avoid this situation and teach kids to  have  focused conversations about books?  The answer is easy: teach kids  strategies to help them develop effective conversa...

Partner Reading and Content, Too Routine (PRC2)

I'm a hoarder. There, I've said it. I try to deny that I'm a hoarder but it comes back to haunt me every time I move houses, or pack up my classroom at the end of the school year. I have old articles, lesson plans, handouts, folders brimming with teaching ideas, past issues of profesional journals. I hardly throw anything out though I've learned to be more selective over the years. My one rule of thumb, and I really try to stick to this, is that if I haven't used or referred to something in a year, then it's time to toss it into the recycle bin. One exception to this rule (you knew this was coming, didn't you?) is past issues of journals from professional organizations. However, with the ability to locate articles online through my professional memberships, even this exception is becoming less and less useful, which brings me to the topic of this blog post. I am currently reading a copy of The Reading Teacher from 2010. I've clipped a cou...

Rewards and Punishments

I'm always surprised and disappointed when educators I respect support the use of rewards and punishments to control student behaviour. Whenever I feel like my students are "misbehaving" or not behaving as expected or agreed, it's usually because I'm "misbehaving" or not behaving as expected or agreed. Sound odd? Perhaps, but think about this for a minute. When something goes wrong, i.e. not according to plan, it's usually because the kids have responded in unexpected ways to what I'm teaching or presenting to them. Unless I'm prepared to handle these contingencies I can lose focus of the lesson and the children. I find that the best way to deal with these "disruptions" isn't to control behaviour through carrots and sticks but rather to take a deep breath and think about what may be causing the problem. Often the cause has to do with one or more of the following: how I've presented the lesson (it's confusing, ...