[Understand] Chapter six?

[Waingort Jimenez, Elisa]

Hi Jennifer,
Yes, it's very hard being "me" sometimes and not having others feel intimidated by "you".  As a teacher leader, by default or appointment, you do set yourself apart and even though you could make an impact sometimes you don't because teachers don't see you as someone having the power or the authority to demand anything of them.  And, of course, you wouldn't.  You or, speaking for myself, I, would just love to have similar conversations at my workplace as the ones we have on this list .  I'm sure many of us feel that way.  I know I need to accept the fact that won't happen, unless you're at the Manhattan New School, or at the PEBC, or on Mosaic or TAWL or TLN.  I am so grateful I can say I have cyber friends and that I've even met many of them from time to time. :)

Yes, generally speaking, teachers don't buck the system.  We simply comply and then complain on the side or take it out on our colleagues or, sad to say, on our students.  I think it's high time we bucked the system and we stood up for ourselves, our profession, and our students; there are a myriad of ways to do that.

I'm off to Teacher's Convention!
Elisa 

Elisa Waingort
Grade 2 Spanish Bilingual
Dalhousie Elementary
Calgary, Canada

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart. 
—Helen Keller

Visit my blog, A Teacher's Ruminations, and post a message.
http://waingortgrade2spanishbilingual.blogspot.com/


 
 
Elisa
I have had similar experiences...and it hurts. I am trying very hard to be  
myself...I don't hide that I want to learn and improve but I try not to throw 
it  in people's faces either... It is hard.
 
It is the same thing that makes it hard for anyone who believes in the  
concept of teacher leadership.To be a teacher leader you set yourself apart and  
that makes you suspect. I have just read a book that has been around a  while. 
It is called the Teaching Gap. (Stigler and Hiebert, I believe.) One of  the 
things that they talk about is the TIMMS study where they compared teaching  
methods in math and science in Japan, Germany and the US. One of the most  
telling statements in this book is that teaching is a cultural activity. What  
teachers are supposed to do and what students are supposed to do in school is a  
cultural expectation in each country. The difference between the US and Japan  
for example, is that we have no system in place to change things in a slow and  
systematic way. Individuals, bright shining stars may be inspirational, but 
when  they retire, they take their expertise with them...and while they are in 
the  classroom they  often are shamed into keeping quiet by peers. Stigler  
and Hiebert say that nothing is wrong with US teachers, it is that most  
teachers have limited teaching methods that are culturally based and no  systematic 
way to change the teaching culture.
 
 Japan has the lesson study process which teachers use to slowly and  
steadily change teaching. National curriculum is developed FROM the  LESSONS  that 
TEACHERS develop through lesson study rather than the other  way around. 
Teachers learn better ways of teaching by watching each other teach  and share it 
with others.
 
SO...I guess what I am saying, the long way around, is that maybe the  
expectations for teaching and teachers are in our culture and bucking the system  is 
hard!
Jennifer
 
 
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