VIVA LA REVOLUCION!

**Mark** · 07-19-2005, 04:04 PM

RANT TIME

Why do we as teachers accept being told what to do by "experts" who have never taught in a classroom or who have been out of the classroom for many years. Why are we not our own experts. Why do we not stand up for ourselves and say "I teach nine months out of the year. I am an expert."? WHy are we spending thousands of dollars on "experts" when every building is already filled with experts?

Do we not feel what we see and observe and know to be true about teaching children and young adults is important? What is holding us back? Is it the administration who feels teachers are less qualified than they are to make educational decisions? Is it a public that views the addage "those who can't, teach" to be true?

How many doctors would take the word of a non-MD about the best way to treat a patient for a specific illness. None. But it happens to us all of the time. Look at NCLBNTLU (no child left behind, no teacher left unscrewed) No practicing teachers on the formation committee. National reading report, no teachers. Most of the accepted experts in the field do not teach full time in a classroom below the college level.

Just because some person graduted and then went on to get an advanced degree they automatically become experts in education. We are our countries' stretchy dolls. Everyone is telling us what to do and how things should be run EXCEPT US!

I am tired of being told what to do and how to do it by experts, educrats, politicians, parents and community members, who have never worked in a classroom, and in the end do not know a damn thing about the dynamics of my room. I am tired of not being trusted, by the administration, to make the right dicision about what I need, and what my kids need. I am tired of seeing the thousands of dollars go out the door to "experts" who "know" the cure for what the administration assumes ails me.

It is time for us to stand up and say "NO. I am the expert and this is what I see. This is what works. This is how to improve our building."

Now, how do we do this? That is the part I am trying to figure out. I was basically dumped into the professional development coordinator position and I learned one thing: Teachers know what they are doing, but they feel overwhelmed, out of time, tired, and would rather focus on the needs of their children because that is what is important. There has to be a way for us as teachers/real experts to take control of our profession and still serve the needs of the children in the classroom. I want to stay in the classroom and be taken seriously. Maybe we would better serve the needs of our children if we did things like Colaberative Action Research, or published responses to the "experts", in support of or against and backed our views up with data that proves our point. There has to be something.

VIVA LA REVOLUCION!

I am open to suggestions.

PS I can't find a spell checker around here. Pardon the bad spelling and writing.

**JohnBoy** · 07-19-2005, 05:35 PM

I'll toss some gas on this one. One of my college instructors- I'll not say which one, but it was in the education component of my undergrad degree- was fond of saying "the research tells us". Research is a funny thing- it can be twisted quite easily to support a preconcieved notion, idea, or hypothesis. In other words, the research can be made to tell whatever the researcher wants it to- if they do not report the facts fully. I also noticed that the education research I looked at used for the most part psychology models to prove the accuracy of their statistics- generally only using a sample of 1000 students or teachers, or whatever. In a country where the students number in the millions a sample of 1000 anything, or even 10,000 isn't significant. My opinion- I think a lot of educational research is very flawed, and done mostly to avoid having to enter a classroom and teach.

**Mathematical Mary** · 07-19-2005, 05:40 PM

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Sorry, loved the contrast between the body and the closing. Very nice!

My reason for not speaking up against all of the educrats and so-called experts are this:

-I am still on a probationary contract at my school because I have been there less than three years.
-I go, I listen, I nod, and I glean, and when it's all over, I go back to my classroom, shut the door, and teach them the ways that I know works.
-Occassionally, I come across some information that is helpful in one of these sessions, and I tweak it to meet my standards.
-I have seen other "teachers" who make those of us who care look bad because they've decided it's an uphill battle not worth fighting. These "standards" are really meant to push those "teachers" to actually teach something.

Although they have a tendency to be a thorn in my side, I think they are good for those who are clueless (as I once was). To gain a greater happiness, adopt a new perspective!

**BeSeeLisa** · 07-21-2005, 12:04 AM

**GOLF CLAP**

Lisa

**cmromey** · 07-21-2005, 05:24 PM

I am very privledged. I just got back (today) from a five day conference when all the teachers from our school get together (we have a k-12 program) and plan/train the year. One of the biggest emphasis from our director is 1) If we want to go anywhere we can either lead or be led. We choose to lead. and 2) it is imperative that WE (the teachers) become the experts in many areas and he listed about 15.

I hear your pain and I agree with you 100%. Before I taught at the charter school I teach at now, I taught for a regular school county. It was miserable. I think there has to be a revolution. Not sure how that it goign to be accomplished, but it has got to.

My 2 cents...
CR

**Christine** · 07-22-2005, 02:22 AM

it is imperative that WE (the teachers) become the experts in many areas and he listed about 15.

I'd love to know what areas he listed, will you share with us?

**cmromey** · 07-22-2005, 02:36 PM

I would love to and I will but I can't at this time. I didn't copy down his notes as he went over them b/c he said he would get us a copy of it. As soon as I get a copy, I will post them. Some of them were specific to our school, but some were specific to teaching in general.

CR

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