What I Need As A Teacher

Wow, it has been 9 days since my last confession.

WHAT I NEED AS A TEACHER:

Teaching is hard. But, it's what I want to do. It's what I feel I have been called to do. So the larger question is "What do we need to do so we can do The Work?" It will always be challenging. It will always be subject to daily peril and the unnatural whims of fate. But under what conditions, do we toil? What are the groundrules?

I NEED TO WORK IN A SCHOOL WHERE:
1. Teachers are valued as professionals.
2. We are provided with the curriculum and raw materials do do our job but are not bound to them. We bear the responsibility of making the final call: What is best for children?
3. We are mentored.
4. We are supported by administration, parents, and each other. I have been in too many schools where stakeholders are at odds with each other and often over petty things. I am now working in two different districts that are explicitly teaching towards eliminating bullies in the classroom. We need to start with us. In too many workplaces, ( not just schools) I see adults acting in cruel and irresponsibile ways that we would never allow our children.

to be continued....