It's like staying in a school, actually teaching and working in a school for years (more than two years if you want to really get down to it), is somehow an indication of your worth in the field of education. Meaning your worth is inversely connected to your years looking at students in the eyes every day.
I was at an education conference session once where they wanted to gauge who was in the room so they asked for principals, district employees, and professors to take turns standing up. They forgot to say teachers. So of course some gloriously mouthy ones stood up and gave a friendly reminder that a session about teaching in k-12 schools might have some k-12 teachers in it. Could it have been an honest mistake? Suuuuure. But there was more to it in how the facilitators were talking about teachers throughout the session. I felt it, I know it.
I was raised as an education professional by exceptional teacher teams. Burger, Turner, Bruck, Ruck, O’Shea, Berry, Young, Geraldo, McCaffrey, Love, Hooper, Beck…These are some of the last names I’ve joyfully yelled down hallways, circled up with to share the toughest parts of the profession, and built the kind of crew that’s kept me whole. So when I encounter folks who talk about teachers as if they are lacking expertise, they are not to be valued, it’s a service not a profession, and someone needs to come in from the outside to help them know, do, and be, I want to yell a lot. It’s subtle messaging. Like in interviews when someone says “wow, you stayed a long time” in a tone that’s not about making that wow flattering. It’s in calls with district leadership who don't feel they can trust teacher professional learning that is teacher-centered, co-led, with guided conversations and engagement. It’s hearing a teacher tell students “I don’t want to be a teacher” when asked how they knew they wanted to be a teacher. (This isn’t because the teacher had some fun way of explaining they are an artist or something, this is someone committed to two years maximum in what they described to colleagues as a service project). I got to be a teacher who was given the tools and support to learn, grow, advocate, explore, and mess up. Shout out to my first principal, Brady, for saying yes to taking students on the trapeze, figuratively and literally. I tried to be that principal too, for the teacher team and students and community I got to lead and learn from.
I was a founding executive director/principal for nine years at a high school that embraced a project-based, student-centered, deeper learning for an equity-driven, adventure-filled approach to education in support of what is possible. The world needs kids now to partner with us to help the world get better. I believe in the possibilities of education, not a status quo. I got to found this school with math teacher Mike Mendelson who is now our sideby co-founder and CTO Mike Mendelson. When I say I believe in teachers, they’re my best friends as chosen family, my co-founder, and my life partner.
When I head into rooms where people doubt the value of teachers, I carry this all in with me. I love when people find their place and passion or push back against what can be completely unsustainable. And it’s fine if you find yourself outside the classroom or a school. (Hi, I’m Erica, not in a school every day anymore.) Just don’t turn up your nose to the people in schools if you start orbiting around the work of teaching instead of doing it every day. I do not love when it’s clear people think someone is “just a teacher” because they’re still teaching (or “just a principal” when admin-ing in schools). I started subbing when I was 19, because my small town needed subs and I needed work during breaks from college. I was full time in schools for 15 years. That’s nothing compared to some of the wisest among us. I met teachers along the way who didn’t believe in or support possibilities for all. I don’t value that approach. I do value teachers, what they can offer each other, and what they can offer the world.
When it comes to AI in education, let’s get teacher voice in this mix. Let’s give teachers the tools they need. Let’s encourage the mindset of exploration and get out of the way (with defined policies that teachers help craft). Our kids deserve this. Our teachers deserve this.
Thanks to Jal Mehta for his recent post touching on this topic and all the many folks before and forever who advocate and organize and navigate power to support teachers. We need more professionalizing of the education professionals. We need more teachers in every room where decisions are made about teaching. And don’t even get me started on where students should be…(spoiler alert, it’s also in the room)…
