25-Year Reflection on Teaching

A few of the biggest changes in teaching over the past 25 years appears to be the method in which the state tests the progress of kids, how many kids there are with special needs and how other kids interact with them, and how many children there are in each classroom. 

The Iowa Basics Test use to be given to each student and their progress was measured, but the emphasis always stayed on the three main emphasis areas of reading, writing and arithmetic.  Today the results of this test seems to be the only factor in determining everything from the future of the school's programs and funding, to determining the teachers' abilities and skills, irregardless of how skillful the teacher is in their day-to-day lesson plan.  The No Child Left Behind law put into place by former President Bush places a great burden on the schools and it's teachers today.  Schools and teachers have no control over the learning that takes place once the kids are away from the school setting, nor do they have control over the mindset of the kids while taking the test.  In my opinion, a more accurate measure of students' progress would be to test the kids at the beginning of a school year, and again at the end of the school year and view the progress for each individual child.  In this testing method, each individual child's progress is measured based on their own abilities, rather than placing the high-achieving students and the low-achieving students in one basket. 

I found it interesting that in today's schools you see kids being kinder to their peers than 25 years ago. Why would that be?  In today's world with both parents working out of the home, we don't seem to have parents spending as much time with their children, therefore, leading to less role-modeling of expected behavior.  Could it be that today's kids are just as mean to their peers, but that it takes place in a different manner?  Years ago we saw physical contact with playground fistfights; today we have electronics and cyber bullying, a more hidden way to abuse peers.  On the other hand, children may be better able to cope with their peers having disabilities and/or coming from different cultural backgrounds because they have been exposed to those children from day one and understand them.

I learned that a teacher's role requires many different characteristics, but the most important characteristics appear to be flexibility, energy, adaptability and patience.