This is not so much an informative, "how to teach second grade" post. But a rant - if you will....a what exactly do people think I do? rant...and then I will feel better and take my mom out to dinner for her birthday...This has been weighing on my for quite some time...Ok here goes...
It seems that there are people...there are always people with opinions and such...that think that we teachers are out to stifle the children's independence...their natural strengths if you will...and others who think we have some crazy hidden agendas to pound our liberal beliefs into them...Totally opposing factors...Two sides of normal if you will....So this is what I do and I like to think my co-workers do too...(and I am the first to admit there are some cruddy teachers out there but most are not...most of us work our tails off and these are my friends you are talking about so be careful!)
I do give standardized tests. I hate them. I hate that there are so many. But we do use them to inform instruction..and they give teams of teachers a place to start talking. And we have to. So we do.
I do require my students to be obedient, to conform to our setting, to listen, to teach, to speak, to read and to walk in a line - quietly. I do not teach in a mall - this is a school and other classes are learning. Show some respect! It's nice too! There is a time and a place for all behavior and my asking a child to behave in a respectful manner is not impinging on their inalienable rights. If you are a nice person - you do these things...I can give many examples!
I have never taught a child to be gay. I do like to think that the few children I have had who are gay (who did not have a name for who they were yet) felt safe and cared for and accepted in my classroom. I hope that the same sex parents who visit my class feel the same. There are ALL kinds of families. And everyone is ok in my classroom as long as they adhere to the basic rule of being a nice person. Treating people nicely is a pretty universal law. It's unfortunate that there are people who struggle with this.
I do push children - gently, kindly but with firm and steady pressure. You can do it. You can fix it. You can do a little bit more. I do not have time to allow your child to find himself in my classroom. We will make progress. We will try to have fun doing it..but sometimes work is not fun. That is something we all know. It will not hurt your child to find this out. And if they can conform a bit and follow that basic rule - there are freedoms in learning to be found.
I guess I just wanted to say that. I do believe that schools mirror society to a degree and learning to conform does not require becoming a robot. But any time you go to the store and stand in a line you are conforming. Do you drive a car? Ride elevators appropriately? Go to church? Walk through the Saturday market without slamming into other people? When I look around I see amazing individuals who know the rules....it's ok that we teach your kids the rules.
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