Asking the right questions is spot on as well. Your work has inspired me as a physics teacher to be “less helpful” and long that my students develop patience in their problem solving. You are doing great work Dan. Thank you for sharing your work with us

Admittedly, I still harbour thoughts of doing something else other than teaching. That is something that I need to come to terms with and your “developing humanity, one class at a time” quote will certainly come into play.

“Let them remember that there is a meaning beyond absurdity. Let them be sure that every deed counts, that every word has power, and that we all can do our share to redeem the world in spite of all absurdities and frustrations and all disappointments. And, above all, let them remember…to build a life as if it were a work of art.”

Abraham Joshua Heschel

As for the tougher parts of education, that’s when we need to look to our teaching community, both in our school and via the blogs. The first three years CAN be especially isolating because we are dealing with the tearing down and re-building of who we are, but even the veterans deal with circumstances with admin, district personnel, and students that can make us feel as if we’re “fighting the good fight” on our own. Connect with your fellow teachers in any way you can. When you feel ineffective, stymied, or beaten by the education world, unload to another teacher, even anonymously, and you will find not only a sympathetic ear, but incredible support…the biggest strength to being a teacher is the fact that there is a community of like-minded individuals out there ready and willing to travel with you.

I’m sorry to hear of your quite negative experience with administration. I’m in my 23rd year of teaching (all at public schools) and have worked with 9 different principals — all of them very supportive and respectful. Each principal had strong skills in certain areas and reached out to their staff for guidance in areas where they lacked expertise. We don’t always see eye to eye, but I know I can share my views without being chastised or feeling that my job is threatened. Maybe my views are really the students’ views — that I’ve tried to be their biggest cheerleader. (I honestly don’t know what my job is if it’s not for the kids and only the kids.)

Of course there are not-so-great administrators, just like in any other profession, and I have heard some horror stories. But I certainly don’t believe Dan needs to embark on this in his remarks to new teachers because if I’m reading you correctly, the administrators and political forces are out to get the teachers such that there’s nothing teachers can do anyway. This view is quite unreasonable. If administrators made it miserable for their teachers, then their teachers would leave, and how would this high turnover look good for any school? Whatever happened to going into teaching because you love teaching — you love the art of it, the challenge of it, the humility in it, and like you said, you “love working with kids.”

Jon, you and I and all the dedicated teachers (new and seasoned — ewww, “seasoned” sounds like I’m a piece of over marinated pork chop) can certainly “fight those who would destroy the good” because we have a very mighty force behind us — the kids. We can do right by them and no one gets to say a damn thing.

The mirror analogy is good. What you were remiss in telling these budding teachers is that their administrators have been instructed to tear them down and teach them that they will never truly be “highly effective.” My administration has told us this as if this were a way to inspire us to continue working toward that unattainable goal. The evaluation practices handed down from higher-ups and state legislators will see to that. Beginning teachers will need that mirror to justify their existence in a profession that is being deemed by politicians and “education reformers” not a profession, but a two or three year step to some other career. They will need to document every positive action and interaction with their students to counter the overwhelming negatives the administration must find in their teaching, planning, and assessment strategies. I have been watching this happen more and more. Forces behind the political parties are working to tap the state and federal educational funding to feed their for-profit education companies.

I am working on the assumption that you are no longer teaching in a public system. Failure to inform prospective teachers of this is like directing a novice skiier to a double black diamond course without advising them that their path will be filled with many nasty surpirses.

I realize that I am coming off in a very negative light, but going into teaching has more negative consequences than positives now. I love working with kids, but hate having to fight those who would destroy the good we can do and that the system is broken.