Linked in this post is a powerful editorial by an anonymous teacher who remains as such “out of fear for her job.” If that doesn’t draw readers in, I don’t know what would. It was published originally on Daily Kos. In some ways teaching has become a cookie cutter industry. I have to refocus every day on what is important to enhance the kids’ lives and that sounds like the author’s focus as well. There are a few statements I disagree with but overall, it’s a valuable and vivid article about deteriorating morale. Below is an excerpt from the article. It ends with a link to the full article. I encourage you to check it out and see what you think of it.

In my teachers program — which was effective in its aim of exposing me to the reality of what it was like to teach students in an urban setting — we were encouraged to think creatively, outside the box, with our students in mind, in terms of differentiation, in terms of … a dream world. I say that because, as I quickly discovered during my semester of student teaching, there is a “college version” of what it’s like to teach, and then there’s “actual” teaching. Outside the walls of the college I attended, there were and are still forces at play that govern the way some teachers in under-performing schools teach.

via Teacher: Losing my religion – The Answer Sheet – The Washington Post.

Your comments on this article and/or the topic of teacher morale in general are welcome.

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