For those of you who have read Tuesdays With Morrie, you understand the impact a teacher can have in the life of a person.  You also understand how a student can impact the life of a teacher.

So, let's take Teacher Appreciation Week to a new level; let's appreciate teachers for who they are and what they do.  As students, parents, and community members, let's understand the value of appreciation.  We all know it, crave it, and share it. 

I appreciate Cohen's insight into teacher appreciation.  It's more than getting a mug, a chocolate flower, or a card.  It's about the child's hug that comes with that mug, the love that was involved in picking out the right flower, and the parent's heartfelt message in the card thanking the teacher for taking such care with their child.

Let's make this expression of appreciation a commonality.  Not only will we foster happier teachers, but we'll grow our own hearts.  Studies of high performing countries shows that they value their teachers more than any other profession.  They foster their growth, development, and confidence by supporting them.  Cohen offers simple suggestions of showing ongoing teacher appreciation.  In case you don't read the entire article, I'm putting his words below.  Try it out today with a teacher in your life.  Until then, be kind to one another.  Appreciate one another.

The following is taken from:

Unpacking the Meaning of Appreciation

May 9, 2012

by David B. Cohen

• No more jokes about finishing our work at 3:00 and having summers off.  We work more hours per year than most people, and for less pay than similarly educated and trained professionals.  Over the years, my second shift of teaching-related work typically has started at 9:00 p.m., and it’s not unusual to send work-related emails close to midnight and get a response from a colleague that night, or before 8:00 a.m.  (Note – I actually think that’s a weakness rather than a virtue, but I’m looking for appreciation in the sense of understanding, not gratitude).
• No more missionary or martyr complexes.  Yes, we care about the future and the children.  But if accountability is a term that means anything in education, it must be reciprocated.  If teachers are accountable, so is the public.  Give us the resources to do the job you expect (or maybe you already do – which would be a rather inconvenient truth).  Appreciate that we cannot build and sustain the profession, or the education system, if we demand excessive sacrifices of our dedicated and energetic teachers, young or old or in between.  It makes a great narrative for a while, until the teacher burns out, moves on, or ends up divorced.
• No more generalizations about our failing schools.  Appreciate the complexity of the situation: while there’s much work to be done in modernizing and improving schools, simplifications make our work harder.  Failing schools are not so easy to recognize, especially from the outside.  To the extent that we attach labels and then begin ranking schools, we fail to appreciate the differences among schools, the strengths of “failing” schools and the weaknesses of our “best” schools.  The label “failing” is becoming increasingly empty of meaning as No Child Left Behind limps onwards despite its flaws.  Teachers who work in “failing” schools are unfairly stigmatized for problems mostly beyond their control, and teacher turnover becomes a cycle that harms students and is hard to break.

Read Cohen's article HERE.

NBC News: Teacher Town Hall Takes Place In Chicago

Merit pay, large class sizes, testing, frivolous programs, and much more discussed at this NBC town hall!

Watch Video HERE.

"To ask us to sacrifice what we know what's best for our students is frustrating, ridiculous, and angers us everyday."

Jennifer Johnson weighs in at minute 40:00 (there's a brief news clip prior)

In A Nutshell

Click HERE to read the article.

I do not have anything to add and have little to comment on with this article.  Is speaks what I believe.  It touches on may of the topics of blogged about.  It is refreshing to read an article that bluntly states the facts and considers all factors; the blame game, politics, reform programs, inappropriate spending, and comparison across countries.  

Enjoy the article!

Politics of Education

By Dr. Brad Johnson and Tammy Maxson McElroy

School Reform

I have an administrator who understands that educators are facing more uphill battles than ever, as well as encourages us to look past them when making students' needs priority.  Recently, my administrator made a bold statement that poverty is not the cause of our problems in the classroom, as much as we want to blame it (paraphrase).  I wholeheartedly disagree and, in juxtaposition, believe poverty is the cause of many challenges in education.  However, while reading research about the effects of poverty on education, I decided to take a different approach and reviewed research and articles discussing solutions, rather than causes, for faults in education.  Enter the Education Policy Research Unit at Arizona State University.

Because there is such emphasis on quick reform, research has yet to catch up and become available to lawmakers, therefore "School reform is, therefore, frequently debated in an environment that is long on emotion and short on hard data".  These policymaker meetings because emotional and reactionary.  Focusing not on our reactions, but on what is working in successful schools is what needs to guide new policies for reform.  I note that when comparing successful and underperforming schools, poverty will expose itself. Research that may guide policymakers' reform ideas include, but are not limited to, early education, poverty, teacher effectiveness (taking into factors outside of student test results in relation to teacher performance), and class size.  

Bottom line, our approach to thinking about what reform is needs to be reformed.  Reform is not a cookie-cutter solution and will not work for every district, or even every school.  That is precisely why education is not (yet) a corporation.  Students are individuals and they come with varying experiences which affect their educational motivation and progress.  Schools attempt to intervene positively.  So when reviewing reform strategies, whatever reform considerations taken into account, I wish to see those involved also take "(h)eeding about proposals that seem certain to waste funds".  By accepting that many factors weigh in and recognizing that reform is not a quick fix, but ongoing process, policymakers and educators can be more prepared to choose better reform routes and resources.

To read further discussion as well as specific research related to the above topics, please visit the article HERE.