Misplaced Obsession
This blog entry addresses a certain type of teacher, usually found in elementary schools, whose behavior startles and/or disturbs me. These teachers are fixated on order and getting things done—as soon as possible. They have their lesson plans completed months ahead of time and make copies of worksheets months in advance as well. Near the end of the school year, they are already getting ready for the next year with their fall lesson plans and copies of worksheets to go with them.
Three weeks to go and their bulletin boards come down—no time to waste! Some go so far as to put up their fall bulletin boards during one of the last few weeks of school, and simply cover them up. I kid you not. As soon as they get their hands on the report cards, they are filling them in, even if there are a few weeks of class time left.
I can only imagine how they conduct their classrooms. There must be a time and a place for everything. It says so right in their lesson plans: Read pages 44-55 with the students and then pass out the proper worksheets. Students should complete their work by 1:30. Then it’s on to math and a lesson on whole numbers.… I’m sure that their classrooms are tidy and the students learn that orderliness is next to godliness. Heaven forbid that there is an unexpected change in the daily schedule. What about the lessons for that day!
Now I appreciate that teaching different subjects to children with short attention spans requires plenty of planning and preparation. (See my last blog entry, “Time Bound.”) However, I have concerns when teachers go to such bizarre extremes. Figure this one out: When there are multiple compulsive planners in a school, planning ahead can become something of a competition to see who can get the most stuff ready.
I wonder if these teachers ever reflect on their work. They may have entered the profession with a desire to help kids, and they may continue to believe that they are. And for all I know, their students may make admirable progress in their classrooms. Yet I can’t help but think that their obsessive behavior affects the quality of their instruction.
Teaching, by its very nature, is a messy business. You can write lessons and copy worksheets all you want, but, in the end, there still is a roomful of children with different learning styles and individual needs to deal with. Can someone who is so consumed by planning and getting things ready also be interested in truly helping each and every one of her students? I’m only asking.
—Dave
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