Читать книгу Riding the Wave - Jeremy S. Adams - Страница 12

An oversimplistic view of teaching focuses exclusively on instruction between the teacher and student, and usually only on instruction that occurs within a traditional classroom setting for a prescribed amount of time per day. But teaching requires more than basic interaction with students—our commitment to education includes obligations, interactions, and relationships with colleagues, administrators, and the public. Thus, to equate education with teaching is to misunderstand both.

Teachers who enjoy their profession and prosper in it do so because of the relationships they cultivate: relationships with the students they teach, the colleagues they teach alongside, the administrators they report to, and the broader communities they serve. But during a time when schools’ and teachers’ professional responsibilities never seem to lessen, it is common, and natural, that we feel strained in ourselves and in our relationships. As any teacher can explain, these stresses and strains start at the individual level. And we carry them with us wherever we go. They haunt us even when we are not on the job or in the classroom.

To appreciate the magnitude of the strain that constant change places on teachers, consider the five concentric circles in figure I.1. Imagine that in the innermost circle is a mirror in which a teacher can view only the stress and strain within him- or herself. Every time the teacher steps back into a wider circle, a complex web of entangled relationships is revealed. When the teacher steps back from the first circle, it is obvious that the strain and stress of constant change also affect his or her relationships with students and the classroom. Another step back, and the teacher can see other teachers on campus and the ever-shifting dynamics among colleagues. The next step back reveals the office, filled with administrators attempting to implement macro policy on a micro level—a process rife with tension and anxiety for everyone involved. Finally, on the outermost circle, the teacher sees the community, which grows increasingly frustrated with schools and educational outcomes, while the teachers within these schools feel misunderstood and unappreciated by the public they serve.

FIGURE I.1: Five relational circles of classroom teachers.

Each part of this text will address one of the five pivotal teacher relationships and common questions related to it.

Part 1: The Self—How do constant changes in education affect a teacher’s sense of self and individual well-being? What practices and strategies can teachers use to overcome the difficulties they face?

Part 2: Students—What changes in policy, culture, and technology are making classroom life more difficult? How can teachers maintain strong relationships with their students amid these changes?

Part 3: Colleagues—How does an environment in a state of flux alter the dynamics among colleagues on a teaching staff? What procedures and practices can ensure strong collaboration and a meaningful esprit de corps?

Part 4: Administration—Why do adversarial relationships sometimes develop between administrators and their staff in an era of disruption and change? What can both parties do to avoid acrimony in favor of camaraderie and staff solidarity?

Part 5: The Community—Why is there such a marked divergence between how the public views the quality of educational outcomes and how teachers view these outcomes? What can be done to bridge the gap?

This text attempts to repair each of these circles a teacher occupies, and it does so by focusing on pragmatic, research-based methods of sustaining the relationships teachers rely on to supply meaning and purpose in their careers.