Blogging was my introduction to journaling and, because of my experience in this course, something that I hope to integrate in to my classroom.  This blog in particular is near to my heart because it represents the free expression of thought and ideas that a teacher looks for in a journal.  When I wrote it, my editors told me that I shouldn't submit it because it was too "hard nosed" but I did anyway but the blog was a safe zone for me to speak my mind.  I believe that safe zone is critical of Authentic Assessment and the development of a student's education.

Most of my life has been spent bucking the system and rebelling against control.  Generally, I am very capable and can do just about anything if given the right tools, a decent time frame and a decent reason as to why I should do that thing.  I have never bought the “because I said so” excuse or listened to anyone because of their certifications or positions of power.  After all, what does a certification really mean: that you can pass a class and take a test.  Does a PhD mean that you are smarter than someone else?  No, it means that you are smart enough to be good student, do decent research and defend it.  Does the fact that someone has a position of power mean that they wield it well or that they are competent?   No, it means that someone thought they could do the job or it was convenient to put them there.  Needless to say, I was not an easy to student to control because most teachers tried to get me to submit by using their “power,” their status, or by belittling me (which never ends well).  Because this is my experience, I felt that I really understood what the researchers were getting at when they talked about teachers that hid behind the podium or desk because those were the teachers that treated me as I described above.  Students, like myself, can’t be minions, it doesn’t work; we must be dynamic, engaged, and stimulated and if you are looking to do this, then the student must own their education.  It must be personal.  The teacher’s role can’t be that of the totalitarian dictator or the dispenser of knowledge (because in the former they are training minions and the latter relying on the student’s perception that they know it all). Rather, the teacher must be the cylinder that focuses the explosion, the bank that guides the river, the rudder that steers the ship.

If the teachers try (or worse, succeed) in inflicting too much control, the students come to hate the class.  Considering that there is a push for more strict teachers and that teachers are more often than not fired for failing to control a classroom over their lack of teaching ability, it is little wonder that there are a lot of totalitarian teachers. What do you think most students think of school?  Parents will say that the student’s should get used to it because that is what it is like in the real world.  Are we that cynical that we think that students should begin to hate what they do 8 hours a day from the start of high school?  Is it any wonder that so many people hate their jobs when they have been taught that they just have to do their menial job, obey with little to no question and hate it from an early age?  When our students have been controlled so much that they hate learning, it becomes better to just sit in front the TV, listen to an iPod, surf the net and then learn. Is it really hard to understand why America lags in test score, great students and specialized researchers?

So how much control should a teacher have?  Only as much as is needed to guide the students.  That is to say that the teacher should only have as much control as to keep the class from descending into anarchy.  What does a good class sound and look like?  It sounds like a low roar that underlines the buzz of learning buttressed by discussion and expansion of thought.  It looks like a group of people working together; maybe they are moving around, maybe they are in groups or maybe they are sitting in rows but discussing with the teacher.  How does the teacher achieve this?  Three things are essential to get to this level.  The first is humility.  Humility in this case means realizing that your students (talking high school level here) are young adults and that they are capable of your level of thought. They are growing and need to you to trust and believe in them. They deserve your respect and you must earn theirs. Their views and learning will differ from yours and that is ok and valid.  The second is honesty.  Honesty in this case means that you are honest about what you are doing in the classroom.  Are you teaching or indoctrinating? Are you guiding or forcing? Are they learning or just merely getting a grade?  Is this rule important or has it become about my personal empire? Is this about textbooks, computers, blackboards and test scores or this about the people?  It also means that you must be honest with your students.  Tell them why you really do something, tell them what you think sometimes, tell them when you are wrong and when you make a mistake, show that you don’t know everything, and show them what you feel.  The last thing is heart.  Teachers have to care.  Once teaching becomes a job, once the administration has ground the will and hope out of you, once the bureaucracy has removed the means to be effective, once the union has made you feel completely disrespected and put upon, once you have to drag yourself to work day after day, quit.  How can anyone expect students to care when the teacher doesn’t?  How can anyone expect the student to love learning when the teacher has forgotten how? How can anyone expect the teacher to engage anything when they don’t have the heart to carry them through?  The teacher is a guide, an example, a leader.  Without heart, how can they ever inspire?