can mean that one decides not to act on what makes the most sense for oneself.
Let me explain.
There is a possibility that the pension plan in which I participate as a Maryland teacher will be changed in a fashion to require me to teach until I am 71 in order to get the full benefit of the additional pension benefits for which I would be paying between the end of the school year now. I probably will not know that until May. By then it might be exceedingly difficult to find another teaching job - at a minimum I need to keep working fulltime at least until I turn 66 and can also draw full social security. That pushes me in the direction of cashing in some IOUs and grabbing a job I know I could have at a public charter school in DC where I have some connections. But I cannot make that call unless I am prepared to accept a job offer now.
Were I to announce I were leaving, it would devastate my current students. While they could understand the need to protect myself financially, all the work done to build relationships, particularly with some of those in my non-AP classes who are most troubled would be lost.
Further, even now it is awful late to begin finding a competent replacement to teach my AP classes. Tentatively, I may have 4 section of AP next fall. No one else in the building is yet trained to do AP. I do not know of anyone who wants to take on the challenge, particularly when after this year non-AP students will have no state test for which to prepare. Given the financial struggles of our system, recruiting someone trained to do AP would be difficult, and with one exception, I am not certain the other AP teachers in the system's other high schools would want the burden of 4 AP classes - in all except perhaps one of the other 22 high schools no one has more than 1 section of AP, and no more than 26 in a class, while I have had up to 38 this year.
There is more.
Our school is at a crossroads. We use to have a very strong school culture. It was called the (Eleanor) Roosevelt Way. It was so strongly a part of our lives that students would tell other students "we don't do that here." That meant teachers were more able to focus on instructional and not as much on the disciplinary aspects of interacting with the students. It meant we could be far more effective.
Earlier this week I held a faculty advisory council meeting. As it happened, about 1/3 of the teachers there had been in the building when that culture was still strong. All explained how it worked to those newer to the building, and I think as a result we have a possibility of rebuilding that culture. That could be as important as any academic instruction for the students in our care. I think it important enough to commit to returning at least for one more year, to see what movement we can make in that direction.
Because ultimately what teaching comes down to is caring for the students. Our caring is not merely for their academic success, although we are always proud of that. As teachers we can and should care for the whole student, the whole child. It is why a number of us went to the Comcast Center last night for a state semi-final boys basketball game. It is why teachers bring their spouses to plays, musical concerts, and the like. It is why if a group of students want to organize their own club some teacher in the building will agree to serve as sponsor, open up her room, even though he is not paid for this service.
Being committed to one's students means listening to them, as yesterday i did with mine.
It means exploring how one can change things in ways that make a positive difference for them, even if it takes the teacher out of her comfort zone.
Perhaps nothing will come of it, but I have received not only permission but encouragement to explore how we can use smart phones and MP3 players instructionally in the building. Yesterday I broached the subject with my AP students. I am giving them time to reflect on it, to make suggestions, to take ownership. Currently the policy is they cannot even have the phones on vibrate during the day, although attempt to enforce that is nigh impossible.
I have no idea if we can do it, but if we proceed, it will be something student-designed as an experiment, and even more important than being graded for the effort of designing and studying the results, they will be able to get some community service hours for the time outside of class spent on researching, etc.
I cannot imagine continuing to teach if my focus were anything but my students. Even more than my curricular responsibilities.
In 1994, when I decided to transition to becoming a teacher, I gave up the ability to have an upper middle class life style. We don't go out to dinner much. With the pay cuts this year we don't go to many movies, because even a reduced-price matinee or early evening show can still put a whole in our budget. We wear largely what we can clean ourselves, because we cannot afford dry-cleaning.
My being a teacher has required my wife's support, because it has meant she has had to endure sacrifices as well.
Those teachers I know married to other teachers have an even greater commitment, at least in its financial impacts.
I write and lobby about education because I am committed to the students, and to those teachers who are similarly committed. It is that commitment that makes a difference.
I do not want to see it denigrated.
I do not want to see it being demeaned.
I do not want to see it being so restricted in compensation and benefits that we drive out good teachers.
I do not want to see it deprofessionalized so that teachers can no longer use their best judgment on behalf of the students in their care.
Being committed to one's students is more than a job, even more than a vocation.
It is a sacred obligation.
I wish some who bloviate about test scores could step back and look at the whole child.
I wish some who talk about the bad teachers would instead focus on those of us committed to the students and empower us to do something about the quality of those who embarrass us.
I wish everyone would remember that the focus should be on the individual child, and that if we have 35 or more in a class maintaining that focus becomes exceedingly difficult.
I wish that we cared as much about our children as some claim that we would commit the appropriate resources so that teachers who want to make a difference could.
Being committed to one's students - that is the sacred obligation of a teacher. It is her guiding principle. It his bottom line.
It is my way of life.
Peace.