Chp 11

           Chapter 11 In reading this chapter and reflecting, I am struggling to find a direction to take this blog post. Overall, this chapter covered concepts we’ve discussed, and feels a bit like a waste of 20 minutes compared to our class discussions thus far. The major focus of this chapter is how we, as content area teachers, can help students who are struggling with reading. The author outlines several approaches to mitigating these struggles, and I am struck by not the methods or issues the students face, but the assumption the author makes about the sacrifices of teachers. Each solution requires extensive work for the teacher outside of school and the piles of schoolwork, and though this is expected to a certain extent, I believe some of these strategies set unrealistic expectations and unnecessary pressures.

          Hear me out: I know teachers have to work hard, all the time, and I know what I signed up for when I entered this program. However, I am flabbergasted by two specific parts of the text. First, “she accepts calls on her cell phone at home from 5-6 pm” and “she’s 24-7”. Answering calls outside of school of course is awesome, but as a human being, teachers deserve to be able to turn off their cell phones when not in school. To think that this author suggests we just “take phone calls 24-7” is baffling to me, because teachers deserve a personal life, like every other working adult. The second example is a teacher who listens to audio tapes on the way to and from school, while driving. This again, is a great idea if it works for this individual teacher, but to think that this author sets the expectations that all teachers should give up their personal time to work, is beyond me. Expectations that teachers can work 24-7 for 30 years and survive is one problem that teachers face everyday and needs to be addressed.
            As our EDMS professor says, “Teachers are both the problem and the solution”. Not only are they the educators, they are the part time parent, caregiver, and friend. It is the most noble pursuit, but should not infringe on basic human rights by setting unrealistic expectations for the people that wear the educator badges, and already sacrifice so much.