Kate Sacco is a first grade teacher in upstate New York. In this post, she describes the joys and satisfactions of teaching. While many others may complain about the many demand placed on them, Kate writes about the pleasure she takes in her children, the love she feels for each of them, and the awesome responsibility of caring for them.
Public schools are “an amazing place,” she writes.
“I work in an increasingly diverse school. Every year we get more children who are immigrants or refugees and every year our poverty level grows as more families struggle. These children are OURS. At bus duty you see the ratio of students to adults. You see how much they love their teachers and how much the teachers care about these kids. You also see what an awesome responsibility it is to have these children in our care. These children are someone’s babies. These children have been entrusted to us, for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, 10 months a year. These children’s parents have trusted us enough to send us what they cherish the most. They trust that we are not only educating their children, but also protecting them, advocating for them and loving them.
“Teachers know this. Those of us who are parents are entrusting our babies to teachers too while we take care of other peoples’ children. We know how powerful this is. This is why, although we love what we do and we love our students, our hearts are quietly breaking. Teachers understand what education reformers and many administrators and State Education officials do not. We understand that these beautiful children are not scores, data points or part of some bizarre VAM formula. We know that rigor and grit have no place in classrooms. We know that these children are so much more than test scores, rankings and data. We know that we are not in education to help children prepare for tests or non-existent or yet to exist “college and career readiness”. What we know is that we are growing people, humans, citizens of our nation and our world. Along with teaching the curriculum, we are teaching children to be kind, to love, to learn, to be curious, to question and to become better people.
“It is breaking our hearts that these children, who trust us and whose parents trust us, are being used as weapons against us. Their scores determine our “effectiveness”. Scores on tests that are poorly designed and mean nothing. Scores that are derived through some combination of voodoo magic, fairy dust and crystal balls. Scores whose cut scores are changed and manipulated to create a narrative that our schools are failing.
“Let me tell you, our schools are not failing. Our schools are thriving, and thriving in spite of budget cuts, cut scores, terribly designed curriculum, nonsensical mandates and outrageous expectations. Our schools are thriving because they are staffed by teachers who know what is important. Our schools are thriving because in spite of it all, the teachers who work in our public schools accept and love all the children who walk in and out of our doors every day.”
We love teachers when they step in front of a bullet to protect students, or hide them in small spaces to protect children from a hurricane, but we publicly denigrate them when there’s money to be made at their expense. Shame on America for trying to destroy one of the cornerstones of democracy, public schools, and the many wonderful teachers that have contributed to the growth of our great nation while continuing to serve the nation’s children despite being bashed and repeatedly blamed for all of society’s ills.
To the government, the only good teacher is the one who goes up in the Shuttle …..the rest of us don’t count.
Reblogged this on Exceptional Delaware.
To Kate Sacco:
Thank you for your beautiful written expression of teaching duty. I would like to repeat your words.
[start quote]
Along with teaching the curriculum, we are teaching children to be kind, to love, to learn, to be curious, to question and to become better people.
[end quote]
Back2basic
It’s odd that I keep hearing this (and know it to be true) because I have been told repeatedly by many, many experts in ed reform that the only solid public schools are in “wealthy suburbs” and no working or middle class person could possibly afford to live anywhere near one, so clearly her school does not exist, and mine doesn’t either.
That’s a lie. I lived in the NYC suburbs in one of the most upscale areas for over twenty years. Of course, I would not have been able to afford it at the end of my career on a mid range teacher salary, and the newer teachers were moving further away from the city in order to afford a house.
Thank You Really wonderful.
The students just left…..it’s Friday afternoon after a busy day. Thanks, Kate, for doing such a great job of summing up what so many public school teachers are feeling -week after week.
Kate has said it so well. I finally figured out what is wrong with me and a lot of others: I can’t go from child-centered teaching to data-driven teaching without going insane. The whole thing is nuts!
Kate Sacco, thank you for speaking for so many of us. As ever, KS
Ms. Sacco completely nailed it. I HAVE to believe that the majority of teachers in our public schools are working under the same grand ethic: that teachers are there for the children and NOT for the data. The minute I hear anyone begin to spout data about the public schools, my radar engages – figures don’t lie, but liars sure can figure. Thank you, Ms. Sacco, for keeping the faith. It’s a comfort to this retired teacher that there are others who understood the call they received and are acting on it.