Some of the statements in the foreword really had me thinking back to my days as a public school teacher though. When Palmer talked about the ever increasing emphasis and obsession with educational externals (p. xiv) such as the standardized testing of No Child Left Behind, it brought back many awful memories of days spent dealing with my special education students trying to cope with the unrealistic expectations of the standarized tests and the unsympathetic principal who couldn't understand why my kids were "bringing down her test scores." I swear those test scores were all that lady cared about in her professional life. It definitely created a situation where there was the same "lack of trust" Palmer touched on (p. xvii) when discussing trust in schools.
It was a bit of a paradox though when Palmer used Byrk and Schneider's research to justify relational trust in schools when their research used the very same standardized tests as a measure of achievement that Palmer was discrediting only a couple of pages earlier.
Finally, it brought back many of the "keepin' it real" moments with those incredible middle school children I taught in the beginning of my career when Palmer referred to the child in the "Emperor's New Clothes" that "do not care what graduate school you attended, who chaired your dissertation committee, or how many books you have written, but they quickly sense if you are real, and they respond accordingly" (p. 7). It took a great deal of patience but those years contained some of the most rewarding experiences of my life and without them I would not be the teacher I am today.
I also liked the connection to the Emperor Has No Clothes.
ReplyDeletehttp://hca.gilead.org.il/emperor.html
In the story, it is the children who finally expose the fraud. Everyone else is focused on pleasing their superiors.
The classroom is such a human place because students will expose fraud, unpreparedness, ignorance, and so on.
A friend once said that students are the best source of information on a teacher IF you ask the right questions and know how to listen to their responses.
I had a similar previous life experience as an inner-city middle school teacher (including a short stint at Aptos) and thought that was my calling. I was going to be the role model for the many broken, dispossessed students of varying backgrounds, ethnicities, and family arrangements.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't teaching.
The thrill I get now -- teaching -- wasn't happening for me in that other setting. Thank God those incredible people do that work every day.
Oh, yes, absolutely, Don. Harking back to those old days, again, I am reminded of my entry test to Saint Rose Academy (H.S.), which used to stand at 2475 Pine Street, before the Loma Prieta toppled that grand ole school.
ReplyDeleteAll potential students had to take an entry exam. Depending on how well the student performed on this, the student was placed in "A," "B," or "C" class. You probably get the picture. There she remained until graduation. Almost no way out, no matter how brilliant or gifted the student was. "A" class had art, "C" class, typing. It was the way it was. Standardized tests, yuk. (Paradoxically, having said that, I loved the school!)
Oh man DG! You got me! That is a zingerrrr...
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm that predictable, but am glad to know that my classmates get such a clear idea where I'm coming from! Because you're exactly right, I thought to myself "mindfulness is good, but at the cost of forgetting? or dreaming? What a loss it would be to lose the wisdom of our experience and the hopes of the future."