In response to my blog about the latest Voucher Follies, this teacher wrote as follows:
There’s this little thing about miracles.
They are miraculous. Now, don’t tell me. I know. That’s saying the same thing.
The thing is, miracles are not normal. They are the stuff that converts normal humans into saints. Saints are rare, unless you count the football team in New Orleans. Hmm. Just a minute, NFL Commissioner doesn’t think their behavior is too saintly just now.
We are, most of us, pretty ordinary folks. We work hard and go home tired. We expect to do the same tomorrow. We don’t expect miracles. We expect progress, or at least the opportunity to do as well as we did today.
Children in schools are not looking for miracles either. School is the place kids go that gives them challenges. Children are pretty happy if they meet the challenge head on and struggle through. Children are used to daily challenges. Their teachers give them challenges, support them when they slip, encourage them to stick to it. The good teachers make school a safe place to slip, to stumble, to fall. That is because a good teacher is human, approachable, real, not too saintly, not perfect, not a miracle worker.
That is, of course, unless you think getting Johnny to read or Sally to multiply is a miracle.
Asking for miracles, describing public education as “failing”, using words like “crisis” in the headlines, these are setting a crummy tone for the conversation. It makes parents wonder whether a day’s worth of challenge and success is good enough for their child. It makes kids doubt the chances for their future. Parents and children begin to look at their teachers, their school and see not the reality of hard work, but the specter of doom. Don’t go in there. There aren’t any miracles happening.
Phooey.
Let’s start talking about the reality of learning. It is incremental. It is a constant struggle. If it isn’t a struggle, it isn’t worth doing. It is not a winner-take-all proposition, either. Being the “best” is typically a temporary honor. Being the middle of the pack is okay, and only in the worst situations, where parents, teachers, peers and administrators are harsh or even cruel, even being at the trailing edge, the bottom of a class isn’t so bad. I’m better this year than I was last year, right? You still like me, right? You still love me, right?
Keeping a positive attitude, getting up after a fall. Moving ahead to the next challenge. Those need to be our expectations. We need to try not to be disappointed if every child in a school doesn’t enter college at age 14. Come to think of it, I don’t want to be around for the frat parties that will follow from that.
No miracles for me, thanks.
Well said!
I love how you think! I just started reading your blogs and have learned a lot from them. I teach the severely handicapped and our day’s progress (miracles) might be getting a kid to look at me, to get to the potty before an accident occurs, or having a student respond appropriately to greetings. Now I’m told that their test scores will be used to grade me! Nothing on the Florida Alternative Assessment tests these skills. These wacko politicians have no clue what is involved in teaching at these center schools. It cannot be tested on the FAA. Further, i-observations that are being required by many districts in Fl have many good teachers becoming “needs improving” teachers. I fear our future. How can teachers control their own profession like doctors and lawyers and get these politicians out of the schools? Just wondering!
Alison: It’s so wonderful that you teach children with special needs! Those who teach your subject, as well as English as a Second Language should be rewarded for working with needier students. Instead, it seems you end up penalized, since naturally, your students will not be able to perform as well on standardized tests. I don’t have any answers — but I wonder if your union is very supportive (assuming, and hoping, that your school is unionized). Otherwise, are there good community groups around? Any Florida teachers out there who can network with Alison?
Teachers please stand up for your profession!
[…] I read one of Dianne Ravitch’s posts where she quoted a teacher named Algot Runeman (@algotruneman) as […]
I call the reliance on super-teachers the “Rambo Escalante Model”. There’s a long history in film of glorifying teachers who – against all odds – “make a difference”. While super-teachers are wonderful, it is definitionally impossible for every teacher to be above average! This thinking distracts from the real structural problem in which students aren’t being given the proper resources, and teachers are expected to fix immense social problems alone.
http://supervidoqo.blogspot.com/2010/03/rambo-escalantes-model.html
This is an excellent post with great responses. Teaching is a noble and rewarding profession, but it takes hard work. It is about learning; learning about subject matter, students, their families, and learning about yourself. Most days we are rewarded and that is a miracle as well.