Teachers that matter

Last Wednesday night was my first class in what will be a ten session, fifty hour, professional learning class entitled Teacher is a verb.

The first activity was the class was to divided into four groups and, as groups, collaborated to come up with as many verbs as possible that describe everything we do as professional educators in any given day. None of the groups came up with less then one hundred and twenty verbs.


One thing that stood out was that a new kind of teacher is needed now more then ever.

We went over some statistics from a recent journal study. If they are accurate then they are alarming. For example one out of six girls is likely to be sexually abused by the time she is eighteen years old. One in eight boys by the time they are eighteen will have sexually abused as well. Right now the percentage escapes me, but most kids, especially girls, will be sexually active or engaged in sexual activity by their eighteenth birthday.

Another sad fact is the homes that many of our students are coming from. In some houses children have been hit with empty liquor bottles, or spend the night cowering in a corner or closet out of fear that someone will either physically or sexually abuse them. But it does not end there. Many children, even in wealthier areas, are neglected by parents who are so career oriented that they forget about those who they suppose that their long hours at the office are supporting.

We also took a brief look into what foster children, an ever-growing population, face as they are shifted from home to home and having little normalcy or stability other then , “In a few weeks, I will be someplace else”.

Is it any wonder why the some of the disadvantaged struggle in school?

In short, it is a sad, grotesque, perverted, and violent world that is reality for many young men and women.

Alarmingly, many of the typical role models are no longer the standard that many youth look too. Everyone that I had as an example of success and productive living has been discredited as they are involved in scandals which then become fodder for the twenty four hour cable news channels, who count on sensational journalism to keep ratings high and keep the coffers of corporate sponsors full if not running over.

So what does all this have to do with teachers? Here are things that I have observed.

• The roles of teachers have dramatically changed in the past ten years.
Veteran teachers, these are not the same kids you taught when you started.

• Saying I don’t get paid to do this is not an option.

• Your students will not brook hypocrisy.

• Those that are in it for summer vacations need to get out because they will
not be the kind of teacher that today’s kids need.

• Most importantly, students need teachers that are will to offer, humanity,
mind, heart, and spirit to them if a difference is to be made.

This will be the first in a series of posts about what is needed in those who are going to be teachers today and in the future. I say in the future because it will probably get far worse before it gets better, if it gets better at all.