Attention Teachers and all those who work with or interact with Teachers! Some food for thought....
There has been a lot of attention paid to the state of education lately and most of that attention has focused on teachers and holding them accountable for student achievement. With all this, mostly negative attention paid to teachers, I can’t help but think about the teacher who has had the largest impact on my own achievement.
The year was 1999, the beginning of my sophomore year at Downers Grove South High School. The class was United States history. And the teacher Ms. Dawson.
Ms. Dawson was not like other teachers. Instead of giving out textbooks the first day of class she put on the national news and asked us to take notes on it. After, we were encouraged to discuss with each other the various issues that were raised. Ms. Dawson taught US history through current events, films, readings and class discussions. We examined the complexities of politics, violence, gender relations, discrimination, racism, poverty, education, government and civil liberties both in a historical and contemporary context. And we never did get those textbooks.
Ms. Dawson’s class was not about memorizing and spitting back information on multiple choice tests, like so many history classes have become. Her class was about building our reading, writing, speaking, listening and critical thinking skills. It was about exposing us to different perspectives and helping us to understand abstract concepts such as: equality, freedom and justice. Ultimately her class was about providing us with the knowledge and skills needed to better ourselves and the world around us.
For me her class was truly transformative. It was in her class that I began to enjoy learning. I became interested in history. I began to read the newspaper and engage in conversations with adults about social and political issues. Ms. Dawson encouraged me to read books, which opened my mind and heart to other experiences. And she taught me that writing could be used as a tool of self expression and an agent of change.
But most importantly Ms. Dawson encouraged me and all her students to become socially responsible citizens. Citizens who engage in public discourse, care for one another and try to make the world a better place.
This idea of social responsibility, of making the world a better place, had a profound impact on me. It motivated me to do community service. It provided me the courage to come out and be proud of who I am. It led me to pursue an undergraduate degree in teaching and a graduate degree in social work. It inspired me to become a social justice activist. And it is the reason I am currently in Mozambique serving as a Peace Corps volunteer.
In the current school reform movement, where America’s teachers are disrespected and blamed for the failures of public education and where there is strong push towards high stakes testing, measurable results and teacher accountability, I can’t help but think about Ms. Dawson. And the countless other Ms. Dawson’s out there.
They are teachers who are called “untraditional” “radical” or “controversial”. They are teachers who teach their students skills not facts. They are teachers who push their students to think and feel differently about themselves and the world around them. They are teachers who change student’s lives on daily basis. And they are teachers who ultimately change the world.
The reality is that the impact a teacher has on their student’s “achievement” is everlasting and often never is fully known. It seems to me that the school reform movement should spend more time and resources building teachers up than tearing them down. And should do everything possible to encourage and cultivate the Ms. Dawson’s of the world. Because those are the kinds of teachers we want in America’s classrooms.
It is the influence of the Ms. Dawson’s that lead students to become engaged in learning, more confident, empathetic and open-minded. It is the kind of influence that shapes lives and eleven years later pushes them to be a Peace Corps volunteer. And it is the influence of the Ms. Dawson’s, far beyond the walls of the classroom, that help to create a better world. A world where people take care of each other, where creativity and innovation thrive, where being different is embraced and where knowledge and power is used for good.
I want to thank Ms. Dawson and all those teachers like her. Teachers who understand that true student achievement is not realized by high test scores but instead is realized in the character of their students and the kind of society these students create.
