From: "Leicester, Jean " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Winona State University-College of Education
It's early morning and I'm enjoying the cool breeze and soft light of dawn as I gather my thoughts about what Paul Bianchi shared with us last night. He and I share a lot of common ground and common values. Both of us have spent 32 plus years in company of children and teachers-Paul as teacher and administrator at Paideia School, I as public school teacher for 20 years and as a teacher educator for the past twelve years. I've seen the kinds of teachers he described in classrooms across more than a half dozen states. I've also watched the public dialogue about public schools turn meaner and increasingly dehumanizing, especially over the past decade. And this dialogue most often does not include teachers, the very people, as Paul noted, who spend their days, year after year, learning about and with our children. So this morning it's the new teachers we prepare who are on my mind.
I am confident that we have prepared them with the knowledge and skills needed to deal with the complexities and rigors of today's classrooms. I am confident that they can teach our children well. That's the easy part, the hopeful part. I sometimes worry, however, when I read that nearly 50% of new teachers leave teaching within the first five years, citing school climate as a major reason for their departure. I wonder if we have prepared them well enough to engage in the rapidly changing society and landscape of public education. Will they be able to withstand the national climate of distrust in public education? Will they maintain their enthusiasm for children, teaching and learning amidst this distrust? As a society we no longer trust teachers' judgment, so we constrain their choices. We no longer trust principals, parents, or local school boards and so we mandate standardization of curriculum, teaching strategies and assessment of student learning. The tragedy of this approach is that it undermines the very humanizing approach most of us want for our children. In fact, it fuels the very distrust it is intended to cure.
I'm not suggesting that our schools be beyond question. As Paul suggests, trust must be earned. Healthy trust is hard won, tempered by healthy skepticism and accomplished through a democratic decision-making process that involves teachers, students, parents, and school boards. However, if we want schools that enable kids to cope with the complexities of modern democratic life, and if we want this for all kids, then we have to give teachers and administrators sufficient decision-making power to act on their collective knowledge of children and accomplished teaching.
Building trust is difficult, messy work. Most of us don't take to it naturally. The question is, do we, as a community, have the courage and commitment to engage in the kinds of crucial, respectful, and humanizing conversations necessary for establishing trust and trustworthiness? If we are to embrace the kind of humane schools that Paul describes, the issue of trust needs to be tackled head-on by listening and talking to each other about matters of importance. An this morning I wonder, have we prepared our new teachers with the strength and commitment to stay the course for longer than five years? Are they prepared to engage in this critical, messy work? I remain hopeful, and skeptical, and, yes, trustful.
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Randy Schenkat 1358 Skyline Dr. Winona, Mn 55987 507-452-7168
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