The Time Given to Us by Keith Sanzen
Welcome back to school and the end of education as we know it. Again.
Or maybe it is still. I always struggle determining if the headlines are isolated omens or part of the ongoing apocalypse.
However, I feel fine. Isn’t that what we are supposed to say?
Someone asks, “How are you?” and you respond, “Fine” or even “Good.” But sometimes you really don’t feel fine about all that is going on around you. But you say “Fine” because that is just how things always seem to be and you have learned to accept that.
Over the years, you have been told that you must not leave a child behind, act quickly to race to the top, have rigorous standards and embrace a common core. Do you need professional development? We will cross that BRIDGE module when we come to it. And let’s not forget testing. You have tried to prepare your students for the New Standards Reference Exams, NECAP, PARCC, NGSS, SAT9, PSAT, SAT, and RICAS. Each time you were told, THIS will be the test that will generate the data to help students learn. THIS is what you need to prepare your student for. And then they change the test. It seems that the only ones to benefit from all of this are the testing companies. Throw in a pandemic, oversaturation of technology, constant criticism with a dash of political grandstanding and it is not surprising to see why a lot of teachers and administrators don’t feel “fine.”
But what can we do with that time we are given?
Perhaps it is the end of education as we know it. But that does not mean the end of education. It simply means change. Ten years ago smartphones did not have the ubiquity they have today. We did not have to contend with earfulls of AirPods. Five years ago the phrase, “Look in your Google Classroom” was not the norm. Four years ago, most of us had never “Zoomed,” had a “Google Meet,” or had taught through a pandemic. Asynchronous was not yet a buzzword. We did not know that a curriculum needed to be lit in a certain hue. And last year at this time, we would not have guessed that students copying and pasting from the Internet would seem quaint in comparison to ChatGPT which decided to join us mid-year.
It is different. It always is. With new district initiatives, emails, Department of Education mandates, technology shifts, media clickbait, test scores, and societal derision, it may seem like the burdens are too heavy to do the job you want to do.
When the bell rings and the students take their seats, be mindful that you are in control of that moment. Consider the time given to you. You have the choice if that time is filled with kindness, empathy, and creativity or if it is simply a time to complete standardized objectives and mandates. The constant ever changing demands may seem to be the end of education but they only have the weight you give them.
Teaching is a challenging job. Some moments may be more difficult than others. But I hope as this school year progresses, you find some moments where you actually feel fine, and that fine turns to good, and the good finds its way to the joy and enthusiasm which first brought you to the classroom.
Stay healthy, my friends.
It’s the End of Education as We Know It and I Feel Fine
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(with apologies to REM)
Hey, it ‘s great
it starts with a tech-quake,
app update,
a cursor shake,
and Noah Webster is not afraid.
A.I. Snapchat,
GPT — what is that?
Students find a perfect hack.
Assignments finished in seconds flat,
given to teachers who want it STAT.
Turn it in, turn it in, turn it in, DONE.
Information gathered,
creating data points of blather,
about students for whom testing never mattered,
with all the standards chatter,
and the reports . . .
are . . .
run. . .
It’s the end of education as we know it.
It’s the end of education as we know it.
And I feel fine.
School Improvement Team make a doc,
testing companies grow their stock,
scores of people with comments mock
with the chatbots and the furies
posting . . .
hate . . .
online . . .
News reports fuel the haters,
while Department of Ed pseudo-educators
see the charts, print the failures,
making deals with corporate operators
to have a plan to sell you later,
With the presentations and curriculum creators.
All while leaving teachers with the data
hanging . . .
around . . .
their . . .
necks. . .
Uh-oh, information overflow.
Send an a press release for all to know,
that your school scores are so low
. . . at least that’s what the data show:
with the rigor, and vigor, and the stakes are high!
Offer me a green lit curriculum and I just sigh.
It’s the end of education as we know it.
It’s the end of education as we know it.
And I feel fine.
============
(Click here if you would like an R.E.M flashback)
Keith Sanzen is entering into his twenty-fifth year of education. He is currently at Scituate High School where he was the Scituate Teacher of the Year in 2013. He enjoys games of strategy and chance as well as graphic novels, science fiction, fantasy, and all things nerdy. Keith has been a RIWP consultant, presenter, writing camp leader, served as a facilitator for RIWP Open Air Institute, and is currently a member of the RIWP Board of Directors. In 2008 he contributed to the National Writing Project publication: Continuity in the Rhode Island Writing Project: Keeping Teachers at the Center. His previous RIWP offering was The Cult of Data.
Keith would like to dedicate this piece of writing to Gandlaf the Grey, the letter B, and the complete set of irrational numbers.
