By Travis
School started this last week. Students were bright-eyed and ready. The fresh smell of sharpened pencils permeated the classroom. My colleagues and I readied our curriculum and routines that will keep even the squirmiest of teenagers engaged in their learning because, after all, it is THEIR learning.
My classes are full. Every seat filled. If any more students are assigned to my classroom, I will have to create a time-share-desk situation. I like a full and busy classroom. I like having a herd of students. However, overcrowding makes students feel like an after thought. I wonder if I will ever see a change to class size in my time as a teacher.
At the close of the week, I noticed one noteworthy difference this year—there is more collegiality within my school than I felt last year. Excellent.
Last year was a hard time for my school. It was the first time in 6 years that the principal was the same person, two years in a row. In addition to this, much of my department, the English department, was new—the Freshman department had only one veteran member.
This year, I am a returning freshman teacher. We now have two veteran freshman English teachers out of 5.
The teachers at my school are good teachers. They are strong in instruction and know the best practices for their subject matter; they love working with students; and they put in extended hours. As a school, we have a metanarrative that binds us and I feel that this year we will make gains toward that.
How about the state of Washington? What is the educational metanarrative? And does Washington’s metanarrative involve something other than testing?
photo by Scott Coulter
“How can teachers, a diverse group philosophically, come together for the purpose of stronger instruction?”
That is the million dollar question. One key that I have seen work is that there should be no pretense that anything offered by one (admin included) shall become a mandate for all. Choice and autonomy are critical to effective teaching, I believe, and when those are threatened or diminished, we see resistance.
Mark, and often, the case is that teachers are an impediment to collaboration. How can teachers, a diverse group philosophically, come together for the purpose of stronger instruction?
I like the focus of Collaboration more than Common. “Common” connotes uniformity and the one-size-fits-all mentality that has forced over testing and driven the focus away from the student to the “common” school success %.
I agree that focusing only on tests is the wrong way to go… and the more I think about it, the more I think the metanarrative statewide is also very different from the metanarrative in my building. I do think that statewide there is the compulsion toward testfocus. In my building, right now, the word is singular: common. Common focus, common assessments, Common Core, common vision. I’m a fan of some and not of others.
What I wish the metanarrative were: collaboration for mutual professional development, and thus, improved effectiveness as practitioners of our trade. In some ways, we’re heading that way, but there are strong chains binding some of us to the twwadi’s of the past.
Mark, Kristin, Thr metanarrative at my school, happily, is not testing based or abstract. In simple terms the metanarrative is: (1) instructional efficacy and (2) intervene early. I like how it is not specific for everyone regardless of style or subject. For example, intervening early for me involves calling home when an issue arises. But for others it may be a note or email.
School goals that focus on testing will never become a community builder.
I agree. Mark’s hit it on the head with the fact that only a few – the minority – subjects/grades are tested.
I like the idea of shifting the metanarrative (is that a real word? It’s pretty awesome.) to something we can all participate in, like collegiality and quality instruction.
My building has its first administrative “walk throughs” next Wednesday, and we’ve even been told what they’re looking for – quality instruction. The discussion’s had nothing to do with test scores and everything to do with good teaching.
I think the metanarrative, while theoretically universal, ends up being highly subjective. If I am in a tested discipline, it may be all about the tests; likewise for a marginalized discipline it may be all about the tests, but for a different reason.
If I teach in 11th or 12th grade, and thus are not “subject to” the testing metanarrative, the story of stories might look any number of ways.
I am saddened to think just how much our existence, at certain grades and in certain disciplines, at least, is centered upon the Big Test and it’s ugly step-sister, Data.