I know it's been awhile, but it's been a busy summer so far. This summer I have been given an exciting and busy change of assignment for the upcoming school year, as mentioned in previous posts, that I am beginning to think about more and more as I work on the task at hand. In the upcoming school year I will change roles from a math teacher to a technology teacher, and this change has got me thinking about this job from a different perspective.
At the beginning of the summer I was told about this switch and my principal told me I would have free run in writing these courses as our retiring tech teacher was more of a business teacher than strictly a computers teacher, and the classes that I would be teaching didn't currently exist in our academic program. He just needs course titles, a description, and a syllabus to present to the superintendent and board. On one hand, I was very excited to have the freedom to develop my own courses and teach a curriculum that I deem appropriate. I mean, it's every teacher's dream, right? To have the ability to teach what I choose in a class not tested under NCLB, where students will actually learn and take something away from.
Throughout this work, however, I have begun to think about the implications of this. The freedom that is so refreshing to have does come with a cost. In a bigger district, this job would be the responsibility of a curriculum director, and I would be given a curriculum to work from, adjust, and implement. When it comes down to it, I am a teacher, not a curriculum director. I am confident that I will put forth a fine curriculum, that is not my concern. My concern is what sort of precedent is being set by my work. As we negotiate a contract during this time when, as with many other teachers, we are being asked to do more and more for less and less, I am concerned about where this precedent will lead. Yes, part of it is a bit of selfishness in which I would like to have some compensation for this non-contracted I am doing, but I know I have to do it because I am a teacher, and we teachers can't half-ass things when we are asked to do them and know that they are in the best interests of our students. Most of it is concern about the district's policy for the school and for the students. My concern is, where would the district be left if I were to take another position or not return for the upcoming school year? They would be hiring a cheap, young teacher in August to walk into a room full of computers and tell that person to teach a non-existent curriculum. How many of our first teaching assignments have started that way!?
In the grand scheme of things it comes down to our lack of value for education. We are in this position because schools lack the proper funding to fill positions like curriculum directors, technology directors, arts instructors, and in many cases the appropriate number of teachers. Contracts all over the State of Michigan are changing language to raise the per pupil ratio in order to lay off teachers while still being in compliance with labor agreements, and remaining teachers are being asked to do work that is beyond their job descriptions. Yes, we will do the work because we are morally obligated to do it, but where will this lead? The only way we will be able to "race to the top" is if we are valued and properly supported to do so.
