Wednesday, October 26, 2016

A Discouraging Chapter in the Teaching Path

I have wonderful students, supportive parents, and an awesome grade level team, but I must say that I'm experiencing a discouraging downturn in the teaching path.

The last time this happened was when I was working with colleagues to champion the shared teaching model. The model met tremendous resistance and there was a very long waiting period between proposing the model and having the model approved.

Again, I face a similar downturn when it's essentially been inferred that it's not my place to think, create, or innovate, but instead to follow the directives in place for teaching the program. It would be easy to follow the directives if my research, reading, and experience demonstrated the directives to be state-of-the-art, timely, and modern, but that's not the case. Yet perhaps I'm wrong, and as I've mentioned before, I want to keep my job and will do as I'm directed.

Colleagues advise me to do what I will and say less. Others tell me to simply follow the directives and not speak up or ask questions. I understand that in some cases that's a more peaceful route, yet when everyone does that, good change doesn't happen.

I'm sure many are tired of my words and advocacy--just do your job, they probably think. Believe me I wish this job didn't pose so many challenges when it came to the desire to create and apply new ideas, reading, and research. I wish I worked in a more innovative setting where creativity, research, risk taking, and new ideas were welcome, but that's not the case for me, and at this point, there's probably a zillion reasons why this is true.

So what's a teacher to do?

For now, I'll do as I'm directed. That's the course of action that I'll take at this point.

In time, I'll figure out next steps that match my spirit and desire to teach in creative and innovative ways. It's not surprising that the job has come to this, but it is discouraging. Onward.