What I Wish Nancie Atwell Had Said

Nancie Atwell was awarded the Varkey Foundation's first global Teaching Prize this week in which she was recognized for her outstanding work at the Center for Teaching and Learning.  If you don't know about Ms. Atwell, here's a quick summary of her achievements.

She was interviewed on CNN about her award and after discussing her philosophy of learning and education - which is rock solid amazing, focusing on authentic literacy,  She was then asked a great question:

CNN: What do you say to kids out there who are trying to figure out what they want to do when they grow up and  might be considering teaching?

Nancy: Honestly , right now I encourage them to look in the private sector.  Public school teachers are  so constrained right now by the Common Core Standards and the tests that are developed to monitor what teachers are doing with them.  It's a movement that has turned teachers into technicians, not reflective practitioners.  If you are a creative, smart, young person, I don't think this is the time to go into teaching unless an independent school would suit you.

You can watch the interview here:

So, here's what I wish Nancie had said!


Now is an amazing time to enter the teaching profession.  Public attention on education has never been greater.  The integration of effective teaching practices and the best technology is a recipe for engaged, authentic, and relevant learning.  The missing ingredient is smart and creative teachers  to lead the way.

Yes,  some schools and districts are thoughtlessly pursuing test scores, but our children's education is too important to leave public education to those who mindlessly follow dictates without thinking.

Our schools and students need smart creative teachers who will challenge the status quo.
Our schools and students need smart and creative students who  love literacy and will infuse that love of literacy to the next generation.

So, if you are considering teaching as a profession, don't hesitate!
And, if you are not considering teaching as a profession, think about it now.
The rewards are satisfying personally, but more importantly, students across the country are waiting for you to join this exciting endeavor to set children up for a lifetime of learning.

Nancie, thank you for setting such a standard of excellence for education by your amazing school, and your many contributions to authentic literacy instruction, but please don't wave the white flag!  Use your exposure to inspire those smart and creative kids to join us because some of us would love to nurture those young people into educational leaders who can write the story of education for the future - a story that does not need to be about mindless technicians, but can be about thoughtful and reflective educators who create life affirming learning environments.

Persistence in Teaching and Coaching

Teaching is Brain Surgery... Blindfolded

I recently read Dave Levy's excellent book, Gray Matter.  In it he describes his decision to bring prayer into his relationship with his patients.  He also describes the intricacies of brain surgery by entering through the arteries with a long, pliable wire and inserting microscopic stents and glue to block off blood flow to aneurysms and clots.  It is obviously a profession demanding high levels of skill, vast knowledge of the human anatomy and patience and perseverance.  It got me thinking about the work of teaching and learning and the requirements of a classroom teacher.  They too are doing brain surgery only teachers don't have nearly as much help and assistance as our medical colleagues.  Here are several ways that teaching students is actually harder than brain surgery.

1. Teachers do not enjoy a live video stream of the immediate effect of their teaching as they work.
2. Teachers don't usually have a small army of assistants in the classroom to help with the performance.
3. Teachers' students are not put to sleep while performing the procedure.  They are very wide awake and sometimes tend to fail to cooperate with the teacher's intentions.
4. Teachers must deal with student misbehavior ranging from inattention to defiance and everything in between.

So, hail to our brain surgeons in the classroom, performing critical work on children's gray matter every day with great wisdom, exceptional skill, and unlimited patience.

Isolation should be a thing of the past

Reading David Mccullough's fine book The Great Bridge I've come to learn about some amazing feats of engineering of the late 19th century. Washington Roebling, the chief engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge needed to bury two mammoth towers on each side of the East River and to do this, he used pneumatic caissons. This technology was in its infancy at that time, but there was another engineer, James Eads who was using the same strategy while building a bridge over the Mississippi at St. Louis. The caissons, pictured above were a hollow structure that was lowered to the bottom of the river, then filled with compressed air to drive the water out and allow the laborers to dig deeper into the waterway's floor. The problem that was soon found out on Eads' project is that workers began to get sick from their exposure to the compressed air. Some even died. They were suffering from what later would be termed "The Bends". What's interesting is that Roebling visited Eads' site before starting on his project and was aware of the problems he was facing, but because of fierce competition, pride, and distances not easily overcome, the men did not share notes and details about their experiences. This isolation exacerbated the problem and led to far more suffering than necessary. When I picture these workers far below the surface, working in isolation in these stuffy enclosures, I think about teachers and schools. Traditionally, teachers and schools have been just as isolated as these laborers, but in today's environment, that isolation is no longer necessary. Because of modern tools (video tape, Internet to name just two) we can learn about each others' successes and failures and all improve because of it. The problem is that too many of us are satisfied to wallow in our lonely state for a host of reasons. When we struggle with students who aren't learning, we should eagerly seek out teachers and schools who have had breakthroughs with similar students. Or, we can learn the hard way and the slow way and lose a few more kids in the process.