Every year, the politicians, the school boards, and the
administrators always introduce some new policy that is urgent that teachers
implement in their classrooms. We are told about this new policy at the
beginning of the school year, we have a plethora of meetings about its
implementation, and we go to workshops to be trained in the new policy. We as
teachers all go along with this, we sit in the meetings, we nod our heads, and
then we go back to our classroom and teach the way we’ve always taught.
I remember one year we had a new teacher who was sitting at
one of these meetings. The designated guppy for the day was at the front of the
room, running the workshop, with her slides showing us all the new information.
Then, all of a sudden, the new teacher starts yelling, “this is bullshit! This
is all bullshit! Can’t you all see this is bullshit?” She started looking
around for someone to back her up, but all she met were the cold stares of the
administrators, whom promptly scheduled a “meeting” with her down in the
office. I remember sitting back in my chair, thinking to myself, “she must be
new”, but at the same time, feeling a great amount of respect for her. She had
the balls to shout what we were all thinking. Except, when you’ve been in the
system long enough, you have the general understanding that there is no need to
stir the water. For the most part, you throw some documentation at them from
time to time, and you can do your job in peace.
At least, that’s the way it used to be. Lately, more and
more of the academic freedom has been taken away from the teachers, and as the
old teachers begin to retire and new teachers are brought in, it’s getting
harder and harder to be an independent thinker in this system whose aim is to
create carbon copy teachers in every classroom. We are all told to do things in
a specific way, and we must show proof that we are doing it that way. Gone are
the days when one could walk into a school and say, “yeah, I know science. Let
me teach it.” The latest trend in education is “Data driven instruction”, and
every student has also lost their identity as individuals, and instead has now
become just a standardized test number.
Recently, I went to a meeting where I was told to bring
three different color highlighters; specifically pink, yellow, and green. Not
really being a highlighter type person, I found the one highlighter I had in my
drawer (pink) and went. Some teachers at the meeting had brought three
highlighters, but not of the required colors. We were all told that our color
choices were unacceptable, and that we must have the three specific colors
mentioned, because in future faculty meetings, we would all be required to sit
with our students test scores in front of us, and the administrators would be
referring to green students (Above grade level), yellow students (at grade
level), and pink students (below grade level), and to avoid confusion, we all
had to have the same colors.
A few days later, the principal sends a mass email detailing
a specific time she wants to meet with each teacher, and attached were some
discussion questions we might want to look over before we attend the meeting.
Included were the questions “How will differentiated instruction be implemented
in your classes for” levels 1-2, levels 3, and levels 4-5? In other words, what
are we doing different within each class period for students of those specific
levels.
In my school, students are already segregated into different
classrooms based on whether they are gifted, advanced, regular, or students
with disabilities. I teach some classes that are regular, and some that are
advanced. The curriculum is basically the same, except that with the advanced
kids you can move faster, because they get if faster, and they are capable of
doing some higher level thinking activities that regular students might have a
difficult time with. That’s the extent of my differentiated instruction. But to
suggest that within each of those classes, I should identify the standardized
test level of each student, then teach them differently based on whether they
are low, middle, or high, is not only ludicrous, but well nigh impossible.
Also, by doing that, the students just become their test scores. We might as
well give them pink, yellow, and green t-shirts to wear, and then establish
different school rules based on which color they are. And by doing so, we won’t
be helping them either. Those wearing the pink shirt (those who have been
labeled stupid) will just continue down that path, because they believe that is
what is expected of them. Those that are wearing green will gain a superiority
complex, and stop associating with the other students altogether. Those who are
yellow will be so anxious to not fall into the pink category, that they would
probably do worse overall.
It’s true that students perform at different levels, but the
current system is missing the mark. They are treating students as if they are
robots. The robots who are rusty, or outdated, just need to be repaired or be
upgraded. The robots who are performing will just need a small amount of
maintenance. It seems logical to want to think this way. But students are not
robots. If a student is not performing well, there is a myriad of factors that
goes into that, and simply giving them extra work, or emphasizing those areas
where they are doing poorly on, isn’t always going to work. We are going under
the assumption that every student loves school, they all want to learn, they
all try their best, but some of them just aren’t getting it. I wish that were
true too. But some students have no parents. Some students are abused. Some
students have parents that are bad influences on them. Some students do drugs.
Some students just don’t care. Some students want to grow up to be athletes,
and spend all day in the park disregarding their homework. Some students see
school as a social place, and the work is an annoying byproduct. There are so
many different attitudes and viewpoints out there. Students are not robots or
computer programs or math problems where you input something and then always
get the same output. As teachers, as long as we put our heart into the
teaching, try various methods to get through to the kids, know our material
well, and treat students with respect, then everything else is just politics
and needs to be kept out of the classroom.
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