Ellie Herman’s recent essay in the LA Times, “Extraordinary Teacher” (attached) emphasizes three important considerations for those who would believe that schools, teachers, and techniques are the reasons for disappointing student achievement reports.
First, it illustrates the diverse needs of students who gather in classrooms during each period of the day to be served by one lone teacher. The range of needs, some known and documented, some unknown and elusive, makes it easy to understand why Ms Herman says, “I can’t do it.” No one could. At the high school level it would be like gathering random groups of 25 or more teens together, assigning them to meet with a doctor one hour a day for nine weeks, and expecting the doctor to measure fitness gains, weight loss, and lowered blood pressure for each to a state or national standard at the end of the grading period. Not all needed the lessons, not all did the homework, some improved on one but not all the measures, and some actually got worse or dropped out. Would it be the doctor’s knowledge and/or skill that would be blamed? And if the doctor is attempting to serve 125 or more individuals in that period of time, what are the chances that single measures would be accurate, comprehensive, or valid?
Second, the essay emphasizes the difficulty of fully understanding each student’s needs and the simultaneous challenge of being able to serve each need. The one student who speaks up, asks a reasonable question, and gets the teacher’s attention may be served while the “lost” students continue to wonder and wander. Meanwhile, a few contemplate dropping out because they don’t seem to “fit” here and another few fume at the teacher’s honest critique and potentially helpful advice on their work. A health professional, faced with a similar challenge of meeting patients’ needs without violating their code of practice, would most likely respond, “I can’t do it.”
Finally, Ms Herman’s essay points to the illogic of public belief that bad teachers will improve or leave if the sanctions are threatening enough or that good teachers will do more if the incentives or rewards are attractive enough. Neither threats nor rewards change the circumstances that make a job impossible unless someone is willing to examine the system itself. And what makes the job impossible in these scenarios is that the system and those observing and evaluating the system lack the professional experience to understand the difference between manageable and malleable widgets and digits and real, live students and patients who have minds and lives of their own. They just don’t understand the difference between profits and proficiency, between bottom lines and brain work, or between “get it done” and “it can’t be done.”
Teachers, like health professionals, need time to work with students individually. The conveyor belt classroom with a standardized test at the end may appear to be equal education, but it violates the very essence of humanity that is the uniqueness – the extra-ordinariness – of the individual.
-Marilyn R. Olson
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Herman - Extraordinary Teacher (57 KB)
Ellie Herman wrote this opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times addressing the conditions under which teachers are expected to be extraordinary.
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