Teachers

It is that time of year when we focus on being thankful. I try to practice gratitude every day and yet this time of year, I do find myself being very intentional about all there is to be grateful for. Over the last weeks, my thoughts have revolved around our teachers.

You know how it was impossible to really understand the daunting task of being a parent until you became one? Teaching is like that. You think you know what that would be like, but until you are a teacher, no one can know how incredibly challenging it is. It is both an incredibly rewarding experience and also completely humbling. Every day you evaluate whether you've met the social, emotional and academic needs of 25 plus students in your Crew. You're hard on yourself because you know that every day matters.

The educational world is changing. The world is calling for a transformation of the educational experience as we have known it. We need to prepare students for a different world. This means we have to create learning experiences unlike the ones we as learners experienced. While it is exciting to think about how we can do that, it is also incredibly hard to create something when you don't know what it should look like. We have changed the spaces, the outcomes, the tools, the resources, the instruction and certainly the expectations - but we haven't changed the structure of a teacher's day.

Often, the public only considers "teaching" as the time spent with students. Time  during the school day spent interacting, guiding, coaching, and facilitating the learning experiences. Really, that's only half of the job.

The other half of the job is designing the time you will be with students. Each day, a teacher must have detailed plans for the instruction they will give children, both as a whole group and in small groups, across several content areas. In order to create inquiry lessons, teachers must spend hours considering the learning progression, crafting a learning experience whereby students will notice, wonder and discover essential understandings, providing feedback....(you get the picture) and yet, when are they supposed to get all this planned? Gone are the days of 'teacher manuals' - teachers are now designers of instruction and curriculum.

That means, a teacher is interacting with students during their work day - and all the hours and hours of research, planning, and assessing happen outside of their work day. But what about time for professional development? It is critical for teachers to continue to grow their expertise as educators - to learn new instructional strategies, new tools for learning, and to collaborate with other professionals. As a principal, I support and applaud teachers as they often take personal time to attend conferences and seminars, which makes them better teachers.

I don't know how we solve this dilemma, but I do know that if our country wants the educational reform we are seeking for students in schools - to prepare them for the 21st Century - we must consider with those changes, how we ask teachers to work. Teachers need time to do the work when they are not with students.

It is important to take something that is easy to take for granted - teaching - and look deeper. To pause to be thankful for our teachers and the work they do. I want to shout out a resounding 'bravo' to our teachers for their incredible commitment.  I am so full of gratitude for the work they do every day. I am so thankful for how our teachers honor and respect our children; care so deeply; challenge them; coach and guide them; and the personal sacrifices they each make to be prepared to teach them every single day.

So this Thanksgiving, join me in thanking these dedicated professionals - the teachers at Renaissance.

Ms. Deborah