Day 27: Treating Teachers Like Students

Daily Blog Challenge: 27/365

Last night I joined an impromptu Twitter Chat with three other educators. I quickly realized after one of my tweets that my idea made far more sense in my head than it did in writting. It may have been due to the limit of 140 characters or it could be that it is just not a good idea.  I am hoping that this post enables me to more clearly explain my idea without being constrained to 140 characters.

This is my idea...

I believe that teachers should be treated more like students. I understand that I may be simplifying a complex issue too much, but I see a disconnect between how we want students to be treated and how we treat teachers/staff. 

Here is my rational...

1. Students and teachers are expected to both hold responsibility for student learning, yet when it comes to staff delevelpment; teachers are expected to pay attention simply because they are adults. (May be I need to get used to playing the game of school too.)

2. Teachers are expected to have explanations and possible solutions when students do poorly on assignments, yet teachers are not always given reasons for lower marks on evaluations. 

3. Teachers are expected to give feedback to students (more than good job, or well done), yet teachers often get this kind of feedback, if they get any at all. 

4. Teachers are expected to lead students, yet teachers are often managed and instead of helping them improve, they are fired. 

5. Teachers are expected to treat all students with respect and dignity, yet many teachers find themselves bullied or disrespected at school. 

I realize I may be young and naive and maybe I don't truly understand how the system works in the real world. I see too many teachers dealing with avoidable problems due to people thinking the rules don't apply to adults.  Once again, I believe many of these problems come from lack of relationships (if there ever was a magic potion, strong relationship would be it,). I realize not all students are treated the way they should be. I strive to treat my students the right way and I would like to also be treated the right way. I guess in the end, that is all I ask. At times it seems to be asking too much. 

Does this make any sense? I am more than willing to accept the fact it may be an open mouth insert foot moment. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.