Mary Beth Blegen Thoughts on Teaching

The longer I teach, the more I realize that although we need to teach facts for a basis of thought and discussion, more importantly, we need to teach process and discovery. No longer do I spend hours making up "good" multiple choice tests. Kids learn through discussion, creating, composing and connecting. No "perfect test" that I could give would in any way equal the learning that takes place when I ask them to create a question and answer it or discuss an issue and justify their ideas.

No lecture on good writing can begin to teach what kids learn when they write and we work together to find their voice in that writing. Now kids begin with their ideas and we work them through until they begin to see that they are writers. The process is messy. But the rewards for the kids and for myself are beyond question.

My philosophy of teaching has changed. Oh, we still read and discuss and write and argue. But we talk more about the why and how of learning. The students ask more questions and I try to give fewer answers. I ask myself daily just what it is that kids should take away from my classroom. I ask them to reflect on what they are learning and why they are learning. I am always searching. I want to help kids begin to discover the human spirit which can carry them through their life experience and can lift them above the almost certain chaos they will find in their lives.

One of the biggest challenges we face now and in the future is to make school meaningful and relevant to all students. Our challenge lies in our ability to assess what we are now doing and to ask ourselves honestly what needs to be changed to make a difference. We need to make real change in all classrooms. We must no longer give lip service to such change. We will fail miserably unless we determine just what we should be doing to reach all students in this complicated age.

No longer are students able or willing to immediately adapt to the wishes of a teacher. The teacher needs to know his or her students in an attempt to make meaning out of education. We must put our curriculums on the table and ask frightening and challenging questions such as, "What are the kids learning from that material?" Perhaps even more frightening is what comes after the questions are asked. We are here to help students develop skills which will carry them into another century which promises to be no less revolutionary than the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. A century which promises excitement and frustration with the explosion of technology.

We must send our young people into an increasingly tougher world well-prepared to earn a living at a job they can do and they can enjoy. But, in addition to skills and books, education offers kids a chance to look at who they are, what they know and how that knowledge can impact their lives.

As a teacher, I must constantly decide how I approach my profession. I must constantly choose whether to join the naysayers who find us heading downward or to join those who push aside obstacles in search of what will be better for kids. I choose to attend conferences, institutes, workshops and staff development classes which ask me to stretch. I choose to read, to visit and to hunt in my search for more and better ways to do what I already enjoy.

As teachers make that choice, they must also decide just how they are willing to show the world that they want to be accountable for what is happening in the classroom. If we choose to deny the need for accountability, we are merely opening the doors wider for criticism and disruption. if we make excuses and become defensive in the face of suggested accountability measures, we are asking for more scrutiny from those who don't really understand.

At the same time we are not retreating from the public's request for accountability, we must choose, as teachers, to take the initiative and step forward with ways we are willing to be accountable. We must work toward a system where we are accountable to each other in our own buildings, districts and states. Where we are willing to look at what we are doing and to let down the barriers which prevent asking very tough questions. Where we decide that, indeed, if we are to save public education, we must look at ourselves and each other in a manner which allows us to improve consistently and honestly. If we can take the first step and be willing to look with honesty at ourselves, we will be looked upon with respect.

Teachers can no longer afford to blame anyone for what is happening in education. We must step to the front and say that we are willing to change. That we are willing and eager to work for more improvement. In her book, "The Peaceable Classroom," Mary Rose O'Reilley asks how we can possibly teach if we do not know our students. I would ask teachers how can we possibly teach if we are not willing to constantly question what we are doing and how we are doing it. If we are not willing to put our classroom in front of a mirror, understanding that we can make a positive difference for kids, but also understanding that we can harm kids. As teachers we must want more for ourselves, our profession and our kids.