Question:
A recently released study of U.S. teachers' views of their profession finds that teachers naturally cluster into three "sensibilities": the Idealists, the Contented, and the Disheartened. Which of these categories best describes the way you look at teaching today? (Can't decide? See a brief summary of the categories here).
Replies:
Oregon
I entered the profession an idealist. For 20 years, I have struggled to maintain my idealism and vision in the classroom. I have taught in numerous settings (traditional, alternative, charter), grades (7-12), levels (remedial-college). My ability to be effective has only been as good as the larger systems I've worked in, and at various points in my career I've slipped into the disheartened category. When I found myself there again last spring, I decided the classroom was no longer the place for me. I took a position as a literacy coach, and I feel as if I've finally found the right place. I have the ability now to affect change on a larger scale, and I'm working to help more of those I went into the profession to help. I became a teacher because of my beliefs about the importance of literacy to the well-being of the world, and too much of what I had to do as a high school English teacher was not directly relevant to that. Reading your descriptions of the three types of teachers helped me understand just a bit more why that's been a problem for me, and confirmed that this was the right move for me.
GA
I would have to admit I belong to the "Disheartened" group more ans more lately. The total emphasis on testing in our district makes it impossible to actually teach anything other than the random facts necessary to pass a "benchmark" test. We don't actually teach anymore-we're simply test facilitators
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