I love to talk about education. It’s my passion. It’s what I do. I love to explore the complexities of the art and the machine of the science of learning. Then I love to tear them apart and try as hard as I might, to figure what worked and why it worked with a specific kid or a specific class.
But that’s my problem. I talk too much. I write my blog and express my opinions and too often, I’m met with acrimony from my colleagues. Not for the ideas, but for my willingness and want of expressing them. Sometimes the acrimony is blatant, “Here he goes again.” or “He’s just being a shit disturber.” But more often, it’s passive aggressive, it’s implied dissent, you know, the eye roll or the “Well…” shoulder shrug.
Now, I may be a little melodramatic about it, but I think there lies a major difficulty in the road ahead in education.
When teachers start to find our pedagogical voice, it is often tuned out by other teachers. Not by administrators or by parents, but by teachers.
I believe the road ahead requires a radical shift that must start with teachers finding their voices.
But as I find my voice, online in the edu-blogosphere or in the Twitterverse, I’m losing my voice in my school. I’m becoming more gun-shy when and with whom I get into it with. I don’t want to be the voice in the wind, yet, the more one says about change, that’s what happens.
So, how do I find balance?
If we want to see the education system we want, we must reclaim our voices and ensure the power of those voices around us are heard.
I do recognize the irony of posting this in the voicEd.ca collective.
I agree with you, Scott. I’m reading your post here just after having read this from Joe Bower. There needs to be some serious ideological changes in the way teachers are viewed & treated, not only by the current ed system, but by each other.
http://www.joebower.org/2012/04/dear-beginning-teachers.html
Tracy
It’s interesting that sometimes the biggest bottleneck to change is ourselves. Bower hits it close in saying, we’ve developed a culture of survival and acceptance, until we come to a place of either complacency or frustration.
In further reflecting on the post, I keep crossing this idea that part of the culture of closing your door and teaching is created because we learned when we went to school that to survive, you do as you are told. We bring that with us. It breeds ideas like, “classroom management”, etc. And so, anyone who wants to speak and challenge our ideals is seen as a “problem student”.
I don’t know, these things are rolling through my head.
I’m also interested in the fact that online doesn’t necessarily give us an avenue to speak, because most of the teachers online are the choir. We are preaching to them.
Thanks for reading and prompting more reflection.
Hi Scott. A very interesting post, and an interesting phenomenon. I’m curious to know whether this is a self-imposed silence with your own colleagues, or is it a case having your voice shut out by others. Could you tell us a little more about this?
Don’t get me wrong. I am, in no way, a silent member of any faculty. Nor are my colleagues specifically change-averse. I’m going to use the terms “teachers” though I know and appreciate that not all teachers are the same. I use “teachers” as a means of identifying a specific culture that I believe exists in the teaching profession.
I am witness to a teaching culture that has at its core three fundamental communication issues:
1. Teachers don’t know how to brag effectively. There is no systemic mechanism for teachers to properly share their success with a proper sense of respect. Many mechanisms are often echo chambers of like-minded educators.
2. Teachers have undergone years of poorly designed and delivered professional development, so there is a culture of resistance around people who raise the idea of teachers talking about teaching. Suggesting that there might be a “new” or “different” way of teaching, even though it is backed by academically sponsored research, doesn’t penetrate this resistance.
3. Teachers don’t know how to give and receive constructive feedback to colleagues.
These are just observations I’ve made over the course of my practice. I think these thoughts are at the crux of my inability to find my voice in my building, but able to find my voice online.
Thanks for the question and keeping me thinking.
Hi Scott,
Ok, I think I understand…and you’ve prompted me to think about this is a cultural thing. I’m going to take your reply with me as I begin the day, and sit down for a fuller reply later.
I think the problem is many teachers buy into the idea that they have a specific “expertise”. They are experts at some aspect of teaching. Perhaps they have a good knowledge of Science, or Math, or History, or a specific book, or sport, or musical instrument. Over the years, teachers with more seniority move into more and more “specialized” roles. How many teachers with 10+ years of experience are teaching the “dog’s breakfast” that beginning teachers are often handed? There is a sense that they/we have “paid our dues” and it’s now someone else’s turn to have the difficult packages.
This type of “expertise” is based only on the teachers skill level at certain tasks. It is not based on any true expertise in “teaching”. An excellent teacher in one subject should be able to move that expertise into any subject. They may not be “comfortable” with their knowledge in that other subject, but that is only an excuse. If someone is perfectly comfortable with their task, of course they view any development in that area unnecessary, and any development outside that area irrelevant. They are already an “expert”, and therefore why change? It’s working! For them…