Teachers! Are you feeling appreciated?
(this is a repost from yesterday -- I had trouble editing and just redid it...)
I was easing into my Monday, reading the blogs I follow on blogger.com, and saw on CoolCatTeacher that it is Teacher Appreciation Week. It was good to see that the blogger decided to concentrate on teaching and not testing or politics or loss of self-esteem.
But I had to wonder, Do teachers feel appreciated right now? Is it really going to mean much to have legislators, test publishers, and school administrators say they appreciate teachers when their actions say otherwise? Do they really think that making it last five days rather than just a day of teacher appreciation makes teachers actually feel appreciated?
And who is the genius who scheduled all of the testing to take place during this time of appreciation? I bet that really makes teachers feel good.
I'm sorry but having a few nice activities at school to honor teachers (or will the testing preclude any such activities?) is almost an insult when there are so many other forces attacking them as if they were criminals. You want to show your appreciation for teachers? Start treating them as the experts they are. Show some respect.
I can imagine myself back when I taught in the schools, facing what teachers face these days, listening to the trite remarks during Teacher Appreciation Week while in my head whirl the thoughts and fears that my job is on the line, that the art of teaching is dead, and that my poor students are looking at a future filled with meaningless tests and little true learning.
And, as we all stand in the auditorium for an assembly one afternoon, facing the students and staff of our school, and they say thanks to us for being their teachers, I'm pretty sure I would burst out crying.
I was easing into my Monday, reading the blogs I follow on blogger.com, and saw on CoolCatTeacher that it is Teacher Appreciation Week. It was good to see that the blogger decided to concentrate on teaching and not testing or politics or loss of self-esteem.
But I had to wonder, Do teachers feel appreciated right now? Is it really going to mean much to have legislators, test publishers, and school administrators say they appreciate teachers when their actions say otherwise? Do they really think that making it last five days rather than just a day of teacher appreciation makes teachers actually feel appreciated?
And who is the genius who scheduled all of the testing to take place during this time of appreciation? I bet that really makes teachers feel good.
I'm sorry but having a few nice activities at school to honor teachers (or will the testing preclude any such activities?) is almost an insult when there are so many other forces attacking them as if they were criminals. You want to show your appreciation for teachers? Start treating them as the experts they are. Show some respect.
I can imagine myself back when I taught in the schools, facing what teachers face these days, listening to the trite remarks during Teacher Appreciation Week while in my head whirl the thoughts and fears that my job is on the line, that the art of teaching is dead, and that my poor students are looking at a future filled with meaningless tests and little true learning.
And, as we all stand in the auditorium for an assembly one afternoon, facing the students and staff of our school, and they say thanks to us for being their teachers, I'm pretty sure I would burst out crying.
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