Sinking or Sailing - an outsider's perspective on classroom culture

Maybe its pretty clear from my posts that I am not a classroom teacher. I have a much easier job as a sort of science interventionist: I get called in to give half-day (activity-filled) classes in science. I see all kinds of different classrooms, and sadly, don't ever get to know the students or the teachers.

But I get an interesting overview and I wasn't surprised to hear from Bill Gates on TED that the teacher makes the greatest difference for a student - often the difference between staying in school or dropping out. Don't we all know this by now?

What I might not have realized is how amazingly easy it is to see, within moments of entering a classroom, whether the ship is sailing or sinking. In a class that is productive, safe and even fun, the teacher is punctual, clean and dresses as though she cares. The kids file into their ordered and uncluttered classroom space without reluctance. Most of all, teachers and students are clearly in it together and share an almost conspiratorial eagerness that glints in their eyes. I can feel the good times and the challenges overcome, and I sense the bonding that occurred in this atmosphere of mutual support. By contrast, the classroom that is adversarial, unhappy and unproductive is as easy to pick-out as if their were a sign on the door: DO NOT ENTER

As I write this, I hear tired teacher voices in my head - people who have been pushed to the limit and beyond by a system that asks far too much of them. I DO know. I DO. But I also have to believe that at least to SOME extent, the difference between the sinking or sailing ship is a choice - or a series of choices. As hard as it might be, especially at first, it has to be much better for ALL - teacher included - to choose success. Its not that I honestly believe anyone would CHOOSE failure. I imagine it must feel more like a slow incremental giving-up, or perhaps giving-in to the temptation to let the small stuff slide. Let the mess pile up, wear the dirty old t-shirt, and back down from that impudent little tween instead of holding your ground. I can see doing all of these things in the "short term", until one day, a teacher finds herself in a job not worth waking-up for, entering a classroom she hates. Imagine how her students feel.