This meme was sent out by Nancy Flanagan, a thoughtful blogger at Teacher in a Strange Land. The purpose was to get a group of people sharing their thoughts on what policymakers should know.

1. The students in my classroom deserve a well rounded curriculum that both challenges and inspires them. When making policy decisions, keep in mind that education goes far beyond skills in reading and math. A few years ago I had a student in my classroom who struggled with reading. One day she ran up to me crying at lunch recess. I asked her what was wrong. She handed me her class schedule.  She had been taken out of choir to attend an additional reading class.  I will never forget her looking at me and saying, “I know I need to work on my reading, but I love to sing.” My kids deserve the chance to sing, dance and create in addition to learning the basics.

2. Each year the gap between the haves and have nots in my classroom is getting wider and wider.  I am not talking just about the number of books in their homes or their access to learning resources. I am talking about the basics.  In order to make sure kids are taken care of we need to make sure families earn a living wage.

3. The emotional needs of children in my classroom are often overlooked or neglected because there are not enough resources available to help them. In order to help students learn, we must first take care of their emotional needs.  Experts recommend one counselor for every 250 students across all grade levels, but the current ratio at my middle school is 454:1. Our community counseling services for children are also overloaded.

4. Teaching is like tennis.  I’ve been playing tennis for over twenty years, but I still attend a lesson every Wednesday.  One day a friend of my mine asked, “Why do still take lessons? Don’t you know how to play tennis?” Even the most accomplished tennis players continue to work on skills.  It’s the same with teaching, great teaching requires quality in-service. Provide incentives to teachers who continue to attend Wednesday lessons throughout their teaching careers.

5. The most important thing I know about teaching I learned from one of my students. Many years ago I had a girl in my seventh grade humanities class who had changed schools frequently, and at the end of the year she just didn’t have the skills she needed to be successful in eighth grade. She ended up spending a second year in my classroom and during that second year she soared academically. Her reading skills increased dramatically, she learned to express herself in writing and she gained the confidence she needed to add to class discussions. After two years with me, she went on to eighth grade at our school.  She moved again in October of her eighth grade year. Before she left she stopped by my classroom to say good-bye.  I thought she would talk about her academic success, but she didn’t.  Instead she said, “I just want to thank you for making me feel like I mattered.” That conversation has stayed with me over the years.  It reminds me that the most important thing I can do as an educator is to let kids know how much they matter.