Spaces for Teachers to Create Change

Three words effectively and efficiently sum up the frame of mind of the teachers in my state of Florida: “enough is enough.” Such was the chant of nearly 3,000 teachers who gathered at our state’s capital at a January rally.

It’s a long list, the things they are fed up with, and Wendy Bradshaw’s speech during the protest sums it up: teachers care deeply about the children they teach and they’re tired of the harmful practices mandated by politicians who are “listening to the opinions of those who want to profit off our children…”

I did not attend the protest but I read Ms. Bradshaw’s speech. And as I read her words, a feeling of responsibility and hope welled up in me, knowing we are at a critical juncture:

Will we continue our top-down approach post-NCLB, or will we give educators the trust and freedom to create change from within?

I am hopeful that we have learned from the No Child Left Behind era. I am hopeful that we have learned that our system of public education, overly complex and over-sized, cannot be reformed from the top down. Solutions will arise from the inside. This means we must begin at the most basic level- with individuals, with the educators.

We have an ability to respond by nurturing, valuing and supporting our teachers. How can we create spaces to nurture teacher wholeness, spaces to renew purpose and meaning to the profession, spaces that will strengthen their abilities to innovate and connect with their students?

How can we NOT create these spaces when we know that great teaching depends on a great teacher and on her relationship with the student?