Thoughts on Teaching
by
Elaine Griffin
1995 National Teacher of the Year
My philosophy of teaching:
The Community Model
I believe there are many ways a teacher can positively influence student learning: theme-based integration of subjects, student collaboration, student choice and responsibility, family involvement, and a regard for multiple world views. But the most important thing to me is to forge an unbreakable bond with each student based on mutual respect and admiration. Because I teach the same students for 11 years in a row, I am able to develop a personal relationship with every student. Our school is a community and a family. We are all essential collaborators in this enterprise called education.
When teachers, parents, students and administrators work together to meet challenges at the local level, the door to excellence is open to all. The size of the community or school is immaterial. Excellence is as much within the grasp of the student from Chiniak or Akhiok as it is within the grasp of the student from the Bronx High School of Science. The potential of each individual is infinite.
Many of the current restructuring models have already been in effect for years in America's rural schools. Of necessity, these small schools have multi-age classrooms where students progress at their own pace; small groupings of students who stay together in a family atmosphere for several years; parent involvement; cooperative, hands-on and project-oriented activities; theme-based, interdisciplinary teaching; emphasis on community issues; and student self-evaluation.
I believe that as a nation, we yearn for a sense of community whether we live in rural Alaska or New York City. Americans are restructuring urban schools on rural models in order to regain a sense of community. In smaller, more personalized schools, students can receive an education that is meaningful, useful, and relevant. They know who they are, where they fit and how they relate.
Education issues and trends:
Shared Staffing We need to attract the best thinkers we can to the teaching profession, supply them with adequate time to become teacher-researchers, and give them the power to make changes.
Our approach to problem solving at Chiniak is the shared staffing pattern. Shared staffing increases staff stability by increasing job satisfaction; encourages community involvement because it allows long-range plans and trust to have time to develop roots; ensures professional growth, because it gives teachers time for personal and family development; ensures a variety of teaching talents, eliminating the need for any one teacher to be a jack-of -all-trades; maintains high energy levels, giving students an infusion of fresh enthusiasm each semester; and increases job satisfaction by reducing job intensity.
The job sharing arrangement is typical of the innovative solutions that local communities, teachers and administrators can develop to raise the quality of education in a particular area. Solutions that are generated at the grass roots level have the commitment of the people involved and are likely to be carried out with enthusiasm because they have the support of practitioners.
Teaching as a profession:
Community, Diversity, Spontaneity When the general public thinks about education today, the first thing that comes to mind is the bleak picture painted by the media. The strengths of America's schools arise from a perceived fault. The positive side of our undisciplined nature is our indomitable spirit.
My message to Americans is to glory in the ragged edges of our spontaneous enthusiasm. Don't wish for a unilateral answer to our educational dilemmas. There will never be a single solution that will be a perfect fit for our diverse society. Instead, we should work toward partnerships of families, communities, and educators who enjoy the process of problem solving.
I support the reforms in teacher-training that reflect the restructuring movement currently taking place nationwide. Schools everywhere are looking for ways to create life-long learners who are ready for the world of work. It is not only what you know today that is important, but also what you are capable of learning tomorrow. Teachers should be accountable for looking ahead and seeking out ways to make school genuine preparation for their students’ lives.
The quantity and quality of teacher research that attempts to measure the value of these new ideas has been greater in the last decade than at any other point in our country’s history. We need to read what our colleagues have been writing and collaborate to design our own projects. We need to converse about what works and what doesn't work. We need to respect what we can accomplish together.
People need to get a hands-on taste of what good teaching is. Teachers need to publicize classroom innovations. The public needs to see how successful teachers really are. Our assessments of teachers and students need to change to reflect new models of success.
