Teachers have affected the lives of every single person reading a newspaper,yet columns written by teachers are as scarce as hen’s teeth. Patrick Welsh is a notable exception; his articles for The Washington Post’s Outlook section have been “must reads” for two decades.
In general, though, journalists write about teaching; education consultants write about teaching; professors of education write about teaching. But teachers don’t write about teaching.
With the exception of The Examiner, where can you go to find snapshots of what actually happens in the classroom? Even magazines exclusively about teaching print articles penned largely by their staff.
Ignored by the print medium, teachers have found an outlet on Web logs. I became a blogger 18 months ago (http://erica_jacobs.typepad.com) and discovered similar blogs by checking my “stats and referrers.” Ms. Frizzle (a pseudonym) has a long list of teacher links, and she is a model for teachers who write.
This informal network still doesn’t answer the question: Why don’t we see many teacher columns?
The answer is elusive. One reason is that classrooms contain minors whose well-being and anonymity need protection. Yet I have found students eager to give permission to use their names and stories.
Administrators prove far more reluctant than students. They don’t like the spotlight to shine on their school, even when the column is positive. I have found that administrators routinely assume that both reporters and teacher columnists are Trouble — with a capital T.
They fear parent inquiries, reader misinterpretation and general ugly fallout. That rarely happens, but administrators still discourage teachers from publishing.
Yet the surprise for me is not administrators, but other teachers. There seems to be an unspoken belief that the classroom is a private sanctuary, and that nothing about what happens there should be made public.
My thought is that a public-school setting needs some measure of exposure so that “stakeholders,” as educators term the public, can see what is happening. I think a column is a place where parents can be reassured that the best interests of their children are met daily in the classroom.
Teachers, like administrators, fear the public, and assume that exposure is equal to criticism. I’m not sure where that originates, but I’ve seen it again and again.
I have found the opposite is true. Even when my column calls into question an educational policy (like the simple-minded measure of educational value by test scores), the response by parents is overwhelmingly positive and supportive. Parents, of all people, know how difficult it is to constructively engage students for long periods of time.
They are remarkably grateful for all we do for their children, even when we sometimes fail to help students achieve their full potential. Parents are a teacher’s best friends.
So that’s why I write this column. It is received skeptically by many other teachers and most administrators, but enthusiastically by parents. Parents know best that we need more windows into our nation’s classrooms — the good, the bad and the beautiful. Teachers should turn their blogs into columns, and prepare to be surprised. A window into the classroom can only be illuminating.
Erica Jacobs teaches at Oakton High School and George Mason University. E-mail her at [email protected].
