Like No One's Watching?

Dr. Whitlock, you say that I should teach like no one's watching. But it feels like everyone is watching. My principal, my superintendent, the students, the State. How can I teach like no one's watching when it's made so obvious that so many are?

No, I have not lost my mind. I am very well aware that the stereotypes of the teacher that comes to work and does what they want without anyone noticing is, if it ever were valid, a thing of the past. The reality of teaching in 2013 is that you, as a teacher, are constantly being watched. Administrators are constantly "popping in" to check up and do up to two formal evaluations per year. Increasingly, parents are asking to sit in on classes. The State is ominously watching through its lens of statistics and increasingly unrealistic (and sometimes downright illogical) "standards." The students are legally savvy, and they often keep their own written documentation of the teacher's interactions with them and other students, complete with dates and times and sometimes witnesses  (and it doesn't stop there - we are having more and more problem with the teacher being filmed on student's iPhones and the parents coming to us with videos in their hand). All of this has led to some of the most anxiety-ridden teachers ever and an all-time high in teachers who are exiting the profession.

At some point, every teacher who wants their students to achieve at high levels have to break free from this. If we teach to the test, especially the State standard tests as they currently exists, we can be sure that the student will walk away knowing a bunch of disconnected facts, without much understanding of how these things work in a. the discipline in which they exist, b. in the broader frameworks of knowledge, and c. in their lives. If we do not teach to the test, we risk losing our job as students who know a great amount about the content often over think questions that were written far below them and do not perform well at all, or at least not as high as could be expected. If we teach the way administrators often want us to teach, we will teach in a way that pisses the least amount of parents off and leads to the highest test scores (do not blame admin for this - these are the rules of the game and they have to play by the same rules as you do). If we teach the way most parents want us to teach, we compromise our ethics because we would constantly be praising the student for everything they do (or don't) do. Are all of these entities watching? Yes, no doubt. But the teacher is the biggest contributor to the variance for all of these entities. It is you alone that must make a decision of how to maximize student achievement. You alone have to teach as if no one's watching.

But how? In the next posts, I'm going to talk about a few things that every teacher must do to maximize student achievement, and they are listed below.

1. Thoughtful and Knowledgeable Curriculum
2. Every minute counts
3. Data-driven instruction
4. Clarity of expectation
5. Permeable closure
6. Follow-through

These tools should be in every teacher's toolbox, and if you're doing them, the only person that's watching that should matter is you. Believe it or not, there is time enough in every school year to have both deep teaching (the things that students will never forget) and standards-based teaching (the things that the State says that students should remember after a year of teaching). These are not always the same things, nor should they ever be confused as always-already the same thing. Sometimes they actively work against each other (how many times have you stressed and had to change the logic of a lesson to incorporate that one standard that doesn't fit anywhere else, but you have to teach anyway?). If you're teaching standards like a robot, your students will most likely never love your subject nor really understand it. I've seen teachers literally take the state standards and use it like a checkbox to plan out their school year ("Mentioned photosynthesis, check!"). And I've seen teachers who really contextualized those standards in a logical way, figured out what to emphasize and what not to, and went on to teach an exciting course that students truly enjoyed and engaged.

More to come...

Why do you teach?

It never fails. I mention that I am a teacher, and Kind Stranger always tells me about their aunt/uncle/mother/father/brother/sister/friend that teaches and hates every minute of it. I smile, and like the teacher I am, listen patiently to what they say. Of course, I've heard it all before, and the story surprisingly never changes that much. It almost always includes the following:

1. The students don't care...
2. The administration is not supportive...
3. They feel they have to teach to the test...
4. No one respects teachers...
5. They don't get paid enough...

I nod my head, and I never rebut these things. Why? Because each and every one of them are true...to some extent. Some students don't care about your material or their future. Some administrators are not only not supportive, they are not good administrators and they don't belong in their jobs because they either have a lack of passion or vision or organizational skills or a combination of all. State testing (and soon Federal testing) is a reality that teachers must consider, as its influence is growing every day. Many people, including the parents whose kids we teach, do not respect teachers. And saying teachers don't get paid enough is like saying the sky is blue and the sun is bright. After I let them give their talk about these things, I ask why the aunt/uncle/mother/father/brother/sister/friend stays in teaching if they are so miserable. They are usually less specific here, mention something about the job market, and then immediately want to change the topic.

I then validate all they say, and then tell them something that surprises them: I am a teacher, and I love my job. I mean, absolutely love it and have a very hard time considering anything else that I'm going to spend my 40+ hours doing. This always takes them by surprise, because either 1. very few teachers love their jobs, or 2. the ones who do don't talk about it. And they really should start talking about it. 

Now, before you think I'm some pollyanna, let me clear the air. Do I love my job everyday? Mostly, yes. Do I ever feel like I'm completely overwhelmed and that the demands of the job are just too much? Mostly, yes. Do I downright hate it sometimes? Yes, emphatically. Do I ever have to redirect myself? Yes, everyday. Do I get burnt out? Yes, every year around February. Does that ever make me want to leave? Never. Not yet, anyway.

There seems to be a few problems going on here:

1.  Many people have no idea, including those very people in Ed programs at Universities, what the reality of a teaching position is. They are full of idealism, yes, and they want to change the world, yes. And every great teacher is full of idealism and they want to change the world. But the reality of teaching day in and day out is much more complicated - and it often seems like the very people for whom you entered teaching are actively working against you. This is intimately related to #2.
2. Teachers have not done a very good job of explaining to the public what it is, exactly, that they do and why what they do is 1. not so easy that anyone can do it, 2. requires special training, and 3. should be respected. The #1 thing that most teachers do not realize is that every parent, every politician, every everybody has received some form of K-12 education, and in some way feel that they know the parameters of your job and also feel that, if given the chance, could do it better than you. Now, everyone who has been successful in a teaching career knows this is hogwash. But why is it hogwash? Tell me in five minutes and give me takeaway points. Every teacher needs to develop what we called in academia their "elevator talk."
3. Ask any administrator and any seasoned, successful teacher the following question: "Did you education degree really prepare you to enter the classroom, deal with parents, deal with administration, deal with your teacher's union, etc.?" The answer will be overwhelmingly, but not always, a resounding "No." Most new teachers do not realize that teaching is the only profession that expects the same results from first year teachers as it does from those who have been teaching for 25 years. Your state tests will be evaluated the same, your teaching style will be evaluated the same, and expectations for classroom management and student achievement will be the same. No wonder so many leave after their first year (I'm looking for the actual percentage here...if anyone knows it and can back it up, please leave it in the comments).

This brings me to this blog. I have a somewhat unique history. I taught in the college classroom for 8 years before coming to K-12 teaching. I've taught, in my career, students from 10 years old in 5th grade to graduate students in Geography, in which I have a Ph.D. I am a very successful teacher. I teach all of my kids at a high level. I've also have been a successful administrator, and I realize that one of the most underappreciated jobs in all of education is that of the administrator, who not only has to piss off a lot of parents, but also fellow educators, secretaries, and pretty much anyone that enters the building, all the while balancing even more State requirements that often have as their goal political ends rather than student achievement. Most do it well, but very few believe they do or have others believe they do. I currently teach and am an administrator at an "A" school that serves one of the hardest populations. We are 80% Title I, which means that 80% of our students qualify for a free or reduced lunch because of very low socio-economic backgrounds.

But in this blog, I want to focus mainly on one thing. Getting your students to achieve. Notice I didn't say, "Getting students to love your subject." Most won't, or if they do, they won't tell you. But the realities of the American Educational System in 2013 is that, in order for you to make it as a teacher, your students have to achieve and your classroom has to be managed. Although very few new teachers realize this, they are actually eggs in the same basket. Along the way, I will also talk A LOT about the 3 problems I listed earlier. Enjoy the ride!