Could you please stop being so inspirational? You tell us to “fight the good fight” and “do what you need to do to make your students successful” but then you never give us any thoughts on how to solve the problem of fighting the good fight. I get all pumped up on my dreams of a better future for my students, and thinking that I can imitate you, and your successes, that I would be able to actually make a difference; make a change; do what is right. You make it sound easy, sound natural, like the right thing to do. I can’t help it. Just like in teacher movies, I start to hope for the start of school.
But then the afternoon comes, and not three hours after I heard you talk, I have to sit through meetings with administrators that I could swear were sitting near me while you were talking, and it’s like they didn’t hear a word that you were saying. Because they’re standing here in meetings telling me how important, imperative, it is for me to follow the district curriculum to the letter, that if the district says to do this and you don’t do it…the threat hangs in the air. As if I don’t know what I’m doing at all, and have no good reasons for wanting to do anything different. I know that our curriculum lady was there, and I bet she sat there nodding her head not even realizing that she is the devil that makes bad things happen.
And you stood there, with your Today show clips, and your heart-rending video of young children learning the meaning to literature and I just can’t take it! Next year, they need to hire an inspirational speaker who tells us that everything will be great if we just do what they tell us to. And she can tell us that she followed all the stuff they planned out for her, and Man, did it work wonders! And then she can follow that up with reassurances that we aren’t selling our souls by just going along with what the curriculum says, and that no, we aren’t ruining our students’ love of reading by having them read something so asininely above their abilities that they and I get so frustrated that we all give up on life for a few weeks. I need a speaker who can just wear me down. I need a speaker who can convince me that Soylent Green isn’t people; that’s just some crazy dude down on the street corner.
I would like to say that this mistaken identity hadn’t happened before with our Convocation speakers. It’s not like they bring in unknown people, and are surprised by what they say. They picked, in the last five years, three of the most famous, published education commentators/educators that exist. All three of you tell us the same thing: “it doesn’t matter what they tell you to do, you shut that door and do what you need to do in order to reach those kids.” This isn’t a surprise to anyone who had read any of your books. Why would they continue to bring you here? Don’t they see the hypocrisy? Didn’t they read your books? Watch the movie based on your life? Didn’t they see the Today show spot? Or that Oprah special? What possible purpose can they have in bringing someone here, having him or her speak to us, move us to action, and then rip the possibility of that change, that impact right out from under us? I find you inspiring, and I want to impact student lives in a similar way, but I can’t inspire anyone if I get fired for not teaching the scripted curriculum that is required in my contract.
So, try to be a little bit more beat down by the system, next time they ask you to speak at Convocation. Some of us aren’t sure we can keep hearing it.
Sincerely,
Convocation Attendee
A Young Teacher
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