We Should Make It Easier–Not Harder–To Be A Teacher

经过德鲁·珀金斯, Director ofTeachThought PD

最近，我tweeted a reflection关于老师的挑战性质。

因为我喜欢精确地说我的语言，并以为“教学很难”一词并不完全正确。如果你听教学播客，您可能已经听过我这么说 - 最近，当我谈论我女儿的一堂课上的志愿服务时。真正困难的是成为一名老师，这是我们应该努力的问题。

我经常说“教学很难”，尽管我认为这不是很准确。尽管教学行为可能具有挑战性，但我认为更准确地说，是一名老师很难。这是我们应该解决的问题。

— Drew Perkins (@dperkinsed)2019年3月17日

至少在我的看法中，我收到的一个反应之一是当今教育状况的重要原因。

Well, if it wasn’t hard, why should it be paid? It’s a job right? My job is kinda hard. And I would not go if I want [sic] being paid.

似乎是基本假设是当老师应该要艰难，这就是我们要付钱的原因。或者也许换句话说，我们要付钱给老师做艰苦的工作。虽然第二个陈述似乎更容易吞咽，但实际上使教师的工作更容易，这似乎是明智的吗？

If we’re asking, often demanding, that our teachers help our young people become the best they can be, shouldn’t we clear as many obstacles as possible for these change agents so they can do their best work?

与每个职业一样，在每个职业中，教师在提供机会时尽力而为autonomy, mastery, and purpose。Unfortunately, teachers are rarely afforded those opportunities. Put that together with structural and logistical challenges and we’re left with a status quo in most schools that puts a low ceiling on potential.

是什么使老师的工作如此具有挑战性？

To be clear, the actual act of teaching someone something (or somethings) can indeed be challenging but what I’m referring to is the day to day rigors of the actual job of being a teacher. Not that I need to detail a list for teachers, you already know, but maybe it’s most helpful to notewhomakes the job of a teacher so difficult on big picture issues.

决策者和政客

我认为，声称绝大多数教师认为各级政治家和政客都在努力真正理解教学的工作并不是一件很大的想法。部分原因是因为大多数人从未成为老师，但我认为许多人的经验与现在在我们学校中发生的事情和需要发生的事情之间也存在脱节。

If most policymakers, especially the older ones with arguably more power, were schooled in a more traditional and less student-centered environment it makes some sense that this is what they’d fall back on as the desired outcome of their policies.

其次，几十年来的教育模型更多地依赖于什么迈克尔·波兰尼（Michael Polanyi）可能会称呼焦点或明确的知识，但是越来越清楚的是，教学和学习需要包括更多隐性知识。The difference might best be described as ‘know-how’ – as opposed to ‘know-that’ (facts).

So we have teachers being incentivized (and punished) by high stakes accountability measures to do a nearly impossible task that many don’t really believe in. Add to that the, at least perceived, unfavorable language and/or actions by politicians toward teachers and now we’re in the territory of implosion.

We need more and better communication between our education thought leaders and politicians and policymakers that centers around asking important questions, not short-sighted and easily quantifiable ones.

学校领导和行政部门

再次在这里，我们经常看到高赌注的问责措施driving the actions of our schoolsin unhealthy ways. Instead of focusing on growing a Culture of Teaching and Learning, we see varying degrees of aCulture of Achievement。This can show up as multiple or stop and start initiatives, data-driven staff meetings, prescriptive curriculum and pacing guides, and sometimes even authoritarian and heavy-handed punitive measures.

老师想做出色的工作，但经常被困在直觉上知道的事情之间，最适合他们的学习者，以及他们被告知要做的事情，或者正如我上面的响应者所指出的那样，他们被付出了什么。

Our schools are at their best when leadership and administration see their role more as support staff than ‘boss’. Related to purpose, what if every administrator continually asked, “what can I do to help my teachers best prepare their learners for the modern world?” Be patient with growth, stop creating initiative overload, and root everything you do in durable anchors that help避免毫无意义的专业发展。

教师

是的，有时我们会更加努力地做自己的工作。我们想要自主权，但有时我们不会做出最好的判断。值得一提的”how much freedom should a teacher have?”还值得一提的：“我们如何使自己负责？”如果我们通过从事这样的流程来负责协议讨论我们工作的质量。公平地说，这是领导人应该珍视并腾出时间来赚钱，但停止孤立地关门并教书。协作，反思，完善，依靠彼此成长！

Parents and the Public

30-40 years ago the sense of compliance and control in our schools and classrooms looked much different. I’m not saying that’s necessarily good but one thing that often makes the job of a teacher so difficult is students who have been empowered to behave in an unruly and often defiant manner. It’s not most students or schools with extreme behavior problems but this is a very real issue and parents are at least partly to blame.

作为两个学童的父母，我不希望盲目服从，实际上，我鼓励质疑现状。但是作为一名老师，我只有一个基本规则，要求学生不要摆脱我正在努力创造的积极学习环境。

从学生之间和学生之间的典型轻度不尊重身体暴力，教师可以面对一切。这种压力很难从教育之外的人那里理解，但是作为前情感行为障碍老师，他发展了与压力有关的湿疹，我可以为现实保证。

If parents and the public truly understood what our schools could be they’d demand more from our politicians and support schools and teachers in a much different way. Ask nearly anyone and they’ll say things like, “teachers are saints” and of course they “support education”. What if parents and the public asked a similar question as administrators, “what can we do to help our schools best prepare learners for the modern world?”

Stop being helicopter or snowplow parents, it’s not helping teachers and it’s certainly not helping your kids.

学生们

Speaking of kids. Yes, students make the job of teaching hard because they are people and we’re all inherently complex and often problematic. They all come with different needs, strengths, weaknesses, emotional and/or intelligence issues, desires, passions, and sometimes behavior problems.

是的，其中大部分是他们的责任。But what if parents were better at parenting and if our approach to education were more academically and intellectually engaging? Do more kids have ADHD these days or are the things we’re asking them to do surfacing non-compliant behaviors that fit that diagnosis?

我并不是说教学不是很有意义的，当然，有一些非常真正的好处，但是总的来说，作为老师是一项艰巨的工作。在我们与世界各地的老师的工作中，当我们听到老师说他们理解并同意实践中的转变时，很明显，但常常对他们的日常情况和现实感到不知所措。

There are many more things than those I’ve mentioned that make it tough. Teacher pay, having to buy supplies, lack of bathroom breaks, having to devour lunch in mere minutes…several of you responded to my question on Twitter with those and more.

I’m writing a piece for@TeachThought和@TeachThoughtpd关于使教学的工作（不是行为）如此艰难的原因，以及为什么/我们如何改变这一点。

Please reply &/or share:
What thing(s) make being a teacher more difficult than it could or should be?＃教学#edchat＃教育

— Drew Perkins (@dperkinsed)2019年4月23日

我们需要我们的老师和教育变得更好。使我们的工作更轻松，所以我们真的很明智。