Come gather ‘round people wherever you roam
Admit that the waters around you have grown
And accept it that soon you’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’
Bob Dylan - Times They Are A Changing
I teach in a place with little professional discourse. For whatever reason, right now, our staff is silent in staff meetings. By and large, we don’t speak up. I’m pretty certain that we aren’t the only school across the country like this. The reasons may be an entire Blog topic for another time.
That’s why it was refreshing to sit in on our first meeting in a long time, where more than a handful of people spoke up this past week. The issue was one that divided staff members. Lines were drawn, sides taken. Compared to the larger issue of teachers speaking up, the topic of the meeting is irrelevant.
It’s an understatement to say that the world is changing faster than ever. We now live in a time when it is hard to imagine the changes coming in the next five years. This is true in all careers; especially education.
School, the classroom, public education, is going to look different in the near future. The sooner we as educators accept that notion, the sooner we can get along with the difficult conversations ahead.
And, in my opinion, some of these conversations are long overdue. There is plenty of credible research to support the notion that creating school environments that are "unschool-like" are having a profound impact on student learning. Ideas like PBL, The Maker Movement, 20 Percent Time, Student Choice, Inquiry Based Learning…these are the changes, in my opinion, that will have the most positive effect on student achievement.
And the alternatives to those changes are grim. Standardized curriculum and standardized testing are forces that create a culture in schools that is contrary to that credible research. A culture where the strengths of a few are championed over the strengths of others. A culture that squashes creativity. A culture that places a teacher’s pacing guide ahead of a depth of learning and inquiry.
Teachers, students, families, all have a stake in what the future of public education is going to look like. Sitting on the side line with our mouths shut feeling powerless, or tired, or whatever, is not going to get those stakeholders, especially teachers, a voice at the table.
Right now, the folks with the least at stake, politicians and large corporations are the ones whose voices are the loudest about education reform. And theirs are the voices that are pushing for the changes most beneficial to their own interests and most damaging to students. That just seems backwards to me. And the time to speak up, draw lines and take sides is long overdue.
